Super Robot Wars (T)heta
by ESWAT88
Summary: Hikari is an ordinary college student, with no particular ambitions or needs. Mindy 'Lemon' Carter is an ex-federation pilot trying to forget her past. The two have very little in common, but despite this, they will have a very important role in the coming conflict...
1. Prologue

A/N:_ Hello! This is my first fanfiction, so please go easy on me. All reviews and constructive criticisms are welcome, but no flaming please. Also, I will not have a full series list at the beginning to keep the element of surprise. However, I will say that there are 9 series used in total._

_For my original generation, there will be a male and female protagonist, and I will be starting with the male protagonist after the intro, then the female protagonist, then join them together for a while._

_And now, the standard disclaimer:_

**This is a non-profit, fan-work. Super Robot Wars is the property of Banpresto, and all anime series represented belong to their respective owners.**

_Without further ado, let's begin!_

The year is Cosmic Era 70, though some still refer to it as AD 2059, and the Earth is in a state of near-crisis.

Overpopulation has forced humans to expand into space.

The space colonies around Earth are divided into two factions: the Neo-Colonies and the PLANTS.

The PLANTS are populated by genetically engineered humans known as Coordinators.

This has earned the ire of the United Earth Federation Alliance (UEFA), many of whom have a purist stance on such matters.

Conflict with the UEFA and ZAFT, the PLANT's military arm, is frequent.

The Neo-Colonies decide who rules with a tournament known as the Gundam Fight.

Each colony sends 1 mobile fighter to fight in designated arenas on Earth, and the colony with the last Gundam standing gets to rule for the next 4 years. It is quite a spectacle.

There are sinister forces at work in the current Gundam fight…

Meanwhile, a hostile alien lifeform dubbed the Vajra has been harassing colonized worlds and colonization fleets, including the Frontier Fleet.

The New UN Spacey (N.U.N.S.), the military arm of the colonized worlds, is near helpless against this new threat, and relies on the S.M.S. (Strategic Military Services) to supplement them in combat.

Autonomous robotic units colloquially called the Jovian lizards have also appeared on Earth, and the forces of Dr. Hell are a common sight as well.

Many other threats hide in the shadows, waiting to reveal themselves…


	2. Find Your Wings! A Young Man's Debut!

Hikari Daishi woke up in a drowsy state, blearily looking over to his alarm clock before bolting up in realization.

"Crap! I'm gonna be late"

He rushed into his bathroom and looked at himself in the mirror. A clean-shaven, angled face with spiky black hair and brown eyes looked backed at him. His cheeks were shallow, and his chin was smooth and unassuming. At 5 feet 10 inches tall, his reflection barely fit in the mirror when he stood up straight. Hikari quickly splashed cold water on his face before quickly brushing his teeth and putting on his work clothes, which consisted of an orange coverall over boxers and a white undershirt. He rushed out of the door of his apartment, a pretzel roll in his mouth and a bottle of water in his left hand.

"_I should still be able to catch the bus!_" Hikari thought to himself as he charged out his apartment building. Hikari was 19 years old and an engineering student at Tokyo University, and had been able to pick up a part-time job at Morgenroete Inc on the weekends. It was currently Saturday, and he breathed a sigh of relief as he barely made it onto the bus. On the way to the Tokyo branch of Morgenroete, his bus passed Jindai High School, and he chuckled when he saw a female student clocking a male student over the head with a paper fan in the courtyard, though he could only guess why.

"_Things have certainly gotten crazier there since I graduated…_" Hikaru thought fondly to himself, "_Maybe I should go back and visit when I have the time._"

Hikari barely made it to work on time before diving into the project he was assigned to. It was a mecha code-named the Fortune, at exactly 11.4 meters tall (he'd measured it himself) with cyan plating and concrete gray accents. They had finished the operating system and were putting the final touches on the head, which was not unlike an Arm Slave's head, but more geometric and blocky. The main selling point was the railgun mounted on its left shoulder. Hikaru was double-checking the wiring in the cockpit when the alarm sounded.

"What's going on?"

"Dr. Hell's mechabeasts are attacking! They must be after the prototype!"

"What do we do?"

"You pilot that thing until Mazinger Z gets here!"

Hikaru almost choked on air at that.

"What? Me, pilot this thing?" He sputtered out, " You're joking, right?"

"We don't have a test pilot yet, and you're the only one with any experience in that!"

"That was a proof-of-concept simulator!" Hikari retorted. However, he knew it was futile to try and resist his superior's logic, so he closed the panel that he had been checking and booted up the Fortune. After the boot-up was complete, he made the Fortune stand up…

...only to fall flat on its face after taking the first step. His supervisors frantically darted around and contacted him on the radio.

"Are you all right?"

"I'm fine, how the hell do I move this thing?"

The next 2 minutes consisted of the Fortune crashing into walls while Hikari familiarized himself with the actual controls. He then grabbed a 25 mm rifle off the rack and set out to see Mazinger Z, Aphrodite A, and Boss Borot fighting the mechabeasts. He opened fire on the nearest mechabeast, A Garada Mk 7, a machine that resembled a skeleton somewhat, with bladed boomerangs for horns. It immediately responded by trying to smash the fortune with one of its blades. Hikari was easily able to dodge due to the considerable size difference, and emptied the rest of his rifle's clip into the back of the mechabeast. Hikari realized he must have hit something vital, because it then seemed to relax before collapsing on the ground. He reloaded, then turned to another mechabeast, a two-headed Doublas, and fired his railgun, decapitating one of the heads before charging forward and destroying the other with a sustained burst from his rifle. He suddenly felt the ground tremor, and turned to see another Garada was charging him. Hikari quickly engaged the Fortune's ground thrusters, dashing to the side in order to avoid a swipe from the mechabeast's blade…

...only to trip the Fortune over a wrecked car. The Fortune landed face-down on the street, and Hikari promptly flipped it onto its back before firing the railgun, which had finished reloading, at the Garada's head. Hikari made the Fortune stand up, only now aware that his heart was hammering in his chest. He engaged the Fortune's flight mode and jumped onto the Garada's damaged head, drawing a knife that was stored in the Fortune's left thigh, he stabbed the mechabeast's brain before jumping back down to the street in a perfect three-point landing with the Fortune.

Suddenly, Hikari heard a mad cackling, and turned to see a cloaked individual on the roof of a nearby building. The figure's face was half male, half female, and was brandishing a scepter of some kind. The figure yelled out to Hikari and the Mazinger group, "Curse you, teal gadfly! Curse you, Kouji Kabuto! Mark my words, the both of you shall meet your end at my hands!" Before fleeing in an aerial fortress.

He turned to see if there were any other targets, only to see that the Mazinger Z was in the process of destroying the last mechabeast with a rocket punch. Hikari noticed that the pilot of Mazinger Z was hailing him over the radio.

"This is Kouji Kabuto of Mazinger Z. I don't know who you are, but thanks for helping out back there!"

"No problem," Hikari paused, and was about to say something else, but was interrupted by another voice over the radio.

"This is Professor Yumi of the Photon Power Labs. Hikari Daishi, pilot of the Fortune, will you please accompany Kouji and the others back to the labs?"

"Uh...what? I don't know if…" too stunned to say anything else, Hikari was again interrupted by Professor Yumi.

"I've already talked to your superiors at Morgenroete, and they've agreed to hand over the Fortune and you, its pilot to the Photon Power labs."

"Oh, okay…" Hikari did not know whether to be excited or terrified. On the one hand, he was being allowed to go to the famed Photon Power Labs. On the other, he had no idea why he was being called there. He sighed before engaging the Fortune's flight mode, accompanying the Mazinger group back to the Labs.

"Go with you to Mars?! Why?!" Hikari exclaimed, at first not willing to believe the professor's line of reasoning.

Professor Yumi sighed and adjusted his glasses. "There is no doubt that the Federation saw your display. At best they'll conscript you to fight for them. At worst they'll lock you in a cell and interrogate you for everything you know about the Fortune, which I take is quite a bit. Would you want that to happen?"

"No…" Hikari looked down at the floor.

"Then I suggest you start packing your things. I've made arrangements with the University and your parents already. And if you're wondering, Great Mazinger can handle Dr. Hell's forces until Mazinger Z gets back, so there's no harm done there. Also, aside from Mazinger Z and Aphrodite A, you'll be joined by a ship from the Outer Space Development Group."

"Hey Professor," Kouji asked, "How are we actually getting to Mars?" Hikari mentally kicked himself for not asking that sooner.

"Nergal Heavy Industries has constructed a new warship, the Nadesico. They're sending it to Mars to check on the colony there, which they lost contact with some time ago. I've arranged for all of you to accompany it to Mars."

Hikari sighed in resignation, covering his face with his hands, before allowing himself to see by parting his fingers.

"Okay, when do we leave?"


	3. Live Fire Test?

Nergal Heavy Industries, Drydock

Mindy 'Lemon' Carter sprinted down the hallway as alarms blared, and a dull smashing noise could be heard through the walls. She stopped to lean against the wall and catch her breath when something burst through it, knocking her off her feet. Mindy brought her head up, only to see in horror as a massive mecha aimed a rifle at her…

...And then she woke with a start. Mindy stared at the ceiling for a few seconds for sitting up in her bed, cradling her forehead with her right hand. She went into the bathroom to splash her face with cold water before staring at her reflection. Bright, radiant blue eyes stared back at her, complemented by a round, yet somehow chiseled face, smooth cheeks, and an angled but small chin. Her platinum blonde hair flowed down to her thighs, to the point where she needed two hair ties to keep it in a ponytail that didn't risk snagging on anything.

She felt her left arm twitch involuntarily, and cradled her left elbow in her right hand to stop it. "_How many times have I had that nightmare now?_" Mindy thought to herself. She had joined the UEFA military as a pilot at age 20, earning a reputation as an exceptionally skilled pilot in the process. It was there that she had earned her nickname 'Lemon' due to her tendency to lull opponents into a false sense of security or advantage before dispatching them. After receiving an honorable discharge at the age of 23, she joined a fledgling corporation known as Pantheon Gateway as a test pilot for their mecha. However, the company was forced to file for bankruptcy after two years. Six months after the company was shut down, Mindy was recruited by Nergal Heavy Industries as a crew member for the still-under-construction Nadesico. She had agreed to come aboard as an advisor. She would have come aboard as a pilot, but her left arm was prone to uncontrollably twitch, spasm, or jerk at often inopportune times, which rendered her unable to pilot any type of existing mecha, a remnant of an accident that had occurred while she was at Pantheon Gateway.

A knock on the door brought Mindy out of her somber reflections, and she went over to see who it was. It turned out to be a man simply known as Mr. Prospector, the person who had convinced her to join the Nadesico in the first place. He blinked, and then bowed his head slightly.

"My apologies, Ms Carter. Would you like me to return when you are properly dressed?"

Only then did Mindy remember that her choice of sleepwear not only bore her midriff, it also exposed much of her impressive cleavage. She covered her chest with her arms quickly before replying.

"It's fine, just make it quick."

Mr. Prospector adjusted his glasses before speaking.

"The captain has just arrived. She wants to meet the rest of the bridge crew on the ship, you included."

"Understood. I'll go down there as soon as I get dressed."

"Of course. I'll see you in a bit, then."

With that, he bowed slightly before walking down the hall. Mindy sighed, the shut the door and got into the shower. After drying off, she put on a black pantyhose with a matching business skirt that went to her thighs, a black tank top, and her old military jacket over that, with a pair of fingerless gloves. She grabbed a protein bar before heading down to the bridge of the now complete Nadesico.

When Mindy arrived at the bridge, she realized that the captain had not yet arrived, her clue being the disorderly conversations taking place. With no one she knew with the exception of Mr. Prospector present, she barely had time to get a good look around the bridge when the door opened behind her, and a young woman with long purple hair wearing a captain's uniform walked in. It was immediately obvious to Mindy that this woman was brimming with energy, further proven when the young lady began to speak.

"Hello, everyone! I'm your new captain, Yurika Misumaru! I hope we all get along! V!" Suiting word to action, she put her right hand up in the traditional peace sign. "_I'm sure to win everyone's hearts with this!_" Yurika thought to herself. Mindy quirked an eyebrow at this display, but said nothing.

"_This doesn't bode well,_" Mindy thought to herself, "_Wait a minute, Misumaru? Isn't that the last name of the Admiral of the 4th fleet? Don't tell me she's his daughter? I heard rumors going around a few months ago that a rookie had aced all the tests at the Naval Academy, but I didn't think they were true!_"

Suddenly, an alarm sounded, and everyone in the bridge snapped to attention. A surprisingly young girl with silver twintails appraised everyone of the situation.

"Multiple Jovian Lizards on an approach vector. They appear to be heading toward us."

"Don't tell me they're targeting the Nadesico?!"

"Oh dear.." Mr. Prospector took out a calculator that he always seemed to have on hand, and began punching numbers into it.

Yurika immediately sprang into action.

"Ruri, how long until we can take off?"

"10 minutes and counting, Captain."

"That'll take too long! Do we have any pilots available to act as a decoy?"

At that moment, Uribitake, the ships mechanic, came in, grumbling.

"The only capable pilot we've got broke his leg while pulling off some stunt in the hangar!"

"Wait a moment...Captain, an Aestivalis air frame is ascending in elevator 3."

Mindy immediately perked up.

"Get me in contact with the pilot, now!"

It turned out that the 'pilot' of the Aestivalis was Akito Tenkawa, one of the Nadesico's cooks. Mindy was able to give Akito a crash course in the operation of the Aestivalis and its weapons before he reached the surface and reminded him of his objective.

"Remember, don't engage the enemy unless you have to. Draw them away from the docks, but don't go too far, or you'll start losing power, got it?"

"Got it. Bring it on!"

Akito immediately regretted those words when the elevator reached the surface. He was surrounded by Battas, large, spider like robots equipped with laser cannons and missile launchers. Akito took flight when he realized that they were preparing to fire at him, managing to avoid a laser blast in the process. He locked on to two of the Battas, and fired the Aestivalis' fists at them, which stayed attached to the arms via wires. The Battas exploded, and Akito chose to run after retracting the fists. Unfortunately, the Battas were persistent and numerous, dogging Akito everywhere he went. He occasionally stopped to fight back, but the only weapons he had in his arsenal were a knife, the wired fists, and a pair of shoulder mounted missile launchers, having neglected to take a rifle with him. After landing to hide in some nearby woods, Akito glanced at the countdown timer to the Nadesico's launch. "_7 minutes to go?! I'm already out of missiles!"_

At that moment, a Batta blindsided Akito with a swarm of missiles, overwhelming his distortion field. Another Batta in front of Akito readied its laser cannons, about to destroy his Aestivalis. Akito grimaced, and braced himself for oblivion, when suddenly a pair of blue laser beams struck the Batta in the leg, causing it to miss. Another three shots hit the same Batta, causing it to explode. A voice crackled over the radio.

"This of Noal Vereuse of the OSDG Blue Earth to drydock! What the hell's going on here?"

Akito turned to see that a blue, fighter-jet like plane was his savior. The Battas attempted to shoot it down, but the Blue Earth was able to evade most of the missiles that were fired, and any that did make it through were stopped by a barrier of some kind.

"This is Mindy Carter of the Nadesico. We are currently under attack by Jovian Lizards and are launching the ship in an attempt to remedy the situation. For now, assist Mr. Tenkawa."

"Roger that Nadesico. Blue Earth out." Noal cut the connection. "Aki, how much fuel do we have left?"

"For combat? About...15 minutes worth." Aki replied.

"All right, let's do this!" Noal spurred the Blue Earth forward, firing as it went. After much running, Akito landed on the water, hovering just above the surface, when the feet of his Aestivalis hit something solid. A few seconds later, he realized that he was standing on the Nadesico. He glanced at the launch timer, which was at 2 minutes and 14 seconds.

"What the...? I thought the launch was going to take 10 minutes?"

"I rushed it just for you Akito!" Yurika chirped over the radio, "Blue Earth, you might want to get out of the way! Gravity Blast, fire!"

Noal, seeing what the Nadesico was about to do, gunned the Blue Earth and sped away from the Battas as quickly as possible. Not a moment too soon, the Gravity Blast engulfed all of the Battas, crushing them with a force several times that of Earth's gravitational force, before they all exploded as a result of their ammunition being compressed as well. Mindy didn't show it, but she was impressed by the firepower that the Nadesico had, as well the hidden resolve of Yurika.

"_Maybe we do stand a chance after all…_" she thought to herself.


	4. The Journey Begins!

A/N: _Sorry for the wait. Here is the newest chapter, in which Mindy finally obtains her mech!_

Hikari sighed as he got settled into his cabin aboard the Nadesico. When he, Kouji, and Sayaka had arrived at the Nergal drydock, there were wreckages of Jovian Lizard weapons everywhere. The next 3 hours had been spent cleaning up and salvaging said wreckages. Hikari had been introduced to most of the bridge crew by Mr. Prospector before being shown to his room afterwards, and the next hour and a half had been spent unpacking his things. He had just finished when he heard a knock on his door. He opened the door to find Mindy, though they had not personally met yet.

"Oh, hello there," Hikari said, "I don't believe we've been introduced yet." He put his right arm forward for a handshake.

"Mindy Carter," Mindy accepted the handshake, "Combat advisor aboard the Nadesico. You're one of the new pilots, correct?"

"Yep. Hikari Daishi's the name. I'm not really here by choice, but it was this or get conscripted into the army."

"Ah, yes. I heard about your performance in Tokyo. Not bad for your first time piloting a mecha."

"Beginner's luck, really." Hikari nervously scratched the back of his head and chuckled. "I'm gonna need more practice before I can really use the Fortune."

"It was a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Daishi. I have to get to the bridge now, but perhaps we can talk later."

"If I may, what were you doing down here?"

"Meeting all the other pilots. Good day to you."

And with that, Mindy left for the bridge. Hikari stood in the doorway for a few seconds, noting how pale Mindy's skin was. He shrugged to himself before going back into his room and engrossing himself in the technical manual for the Fortune that Morgenroete had compiled for him. After 2 more hours, the Nadesico took off to begin its journey to Mars. However, one last obstacle stood in its way. Just as it was exiting the stratosphere, the Nadesico received a transmission from an Earth Federation vessel.

"Captain, incoming video transmission from the 4th fleet." Megumi reported.

"Put it on screen." Yurika responded.

The face of Admiral Misumaru, Yurika's father, appeared on the main bridge monitor. He had a well worn, slightly tan face, and an impressive mustache.

"Papa, what's the matter?" Yurika asked her father.

"I'm only going to ask this once, so…" Admiral Misumaru then clasped his hands together, as if assuming a begging posture. "Please hand over the Nadesico to the Earth Federation!"

"What? Why would we do that?" Yurika asked, a look of confusion on her face. "We have to go help the people on Mars!"

"They want to integrate the Nadesico into the military to fight the Jovian Lizards! Please, as your father, I implore you to do this!"

"If I may," Mr. Prospector adjusted his glasses, "the Nadesico is private property, and has no obligation to obey any restrictions placed on it."

"What he said! Besides, even if the Nadesico wasn't private property, Mars still needs us, and that's final!"

Admiral Misumaru sighed before responding, "I had a feeling it would turn out like this. I contacted you now to try and convince you before things got ugly. The 2nd fleet is making preparations to capture you as we speak. You'll most likely be ambushed while still in Earth's orbit. Since I can't convince you, I'll just say this: good luck, Yurika."

With that, Admiral Misumaru cut the transmission. Ruri immediately spoke up.

"Captain, I'm detecting a small group of Moebius mobile armors and Delphinum armors ahead, 40 kilometers and closing."

"Scramble all pilots! Tell them not to kill any of the Federation pilots!"

"All pilots, report to the hangar. I repeat, all pilots, report to the hangar!" Megumi announced over a ship-wide broadcast.

Hikari was a bit uneasy as he settled into the cockpit of the Fortune. For the inevitable space combat that was to ensue, he was wearing a sealed orange pilot suit, courtesy of Morgenroete. He stared uneasily at his helmet, which was mirrored to protect his eyes from direct sunlight, before putting it on. He gave the nearby mechanics a thumbs up before closing the cockpit. '_Well, here's hoping I don't get killed out there._' He thought to himself.

BGM-Persona 4 Golden OST "Time to Make History"

"Hikari Daishi, Fortune, launching!"

The Fortune sped out one of the Nadesico's launch chutes, followed by Akito, Gai Daigoji, Blue Earth, Mazinger Z, and Aphrodite A.

"Mr. Daigoji, are you sure you'll be alright?" Mindy asked with some concern over the radio.

"I'll be fine until the painkillers wear off! Then I'm gonna be screaming like a little girl!"

"Suit yourself. That means we have 5 hours to get this over with. All pilots, commence attack!"

Hikari sped up to a Moebius and quickly sliced off its linear gun with the Fortune's knife, dodging bullets and missiles the entire way. He quickly turned around and fired a short burst into another Moebuis' linear gun when he was grabbed from behind by two Delphinums, mechas designed for space combat that resembled white brain coral, but with a visor and three-pronged arms. Hikari struggled a bit before Gai was able to free him.

"Unhand my comrade, obstructors of justice! Gekigan Swoooord!" Gai bellowed over an open frequency as he cut off the Delphinums' arms with his Aestivalis' knife.

"Thanks Gai, I owe you one!" Hikari responded over the radio.

"No need, my friend. Come! Our allies require our aid!" Despite Gai's overenthusiastic manner of speech, the others-with the exception of Blue Earth-were indeed struggling somewhat. Though Akito had superior maneuverability, he was still inexperienced, with his Aestivalis' distortion field being the only thing keeping it intact most of the time. Mazinger Z was forced to rely entirely on its Photon Beam to disable enemy units, and even then Kouji had to aim carefully. Aphrodite A was entirely useless against the enemy, only being able to repair other units when they needed it due to its only weapons being a pair of chest-based missiles and melee attacks, both of which would prove lethal against their current opponents. It wasn't until half an hour later that the Federation decided to retreat. Just as well, since Hikari had run out of ammunition for his rifle, and was forced to rely on his knife for disabling the enemy units. It was then that he noticed something odd on his radar.

"Nadesico, I've got an unknown contact on my radar. It's at the edge of the battlefield. Are you seeing this?"

"Nadesico here," Megumi replied, "we see it. Hang on, we're getting a transmission from the unknown."

"Um...hello? Can anyone hear us? If you can, then can you please help us? We can barely move this thing, and we have no idea where we are!" The voice over the radio was female, and barely hiding a tone of panic.

"This is Captain Yurika Misumaru of the warship Nadesico. Unknown unit, can you see us?"

"Y-Yes."

"You have permission to come aboard. The port-side hangar, second-to-last from the back should be unoccupied."

"Thank you. We're going there now."

"Captain, is it really a good idea to let them on?" Mindy asked.

"It's fine! They didn't sound like they could do anything bad to us, and even they did, we outnumber them! Besides, they said they could barely get their machine to move!"

"Ms. Carter, would you accompany the security team to the hangar? Also, be prepared to restrain the occupants if necessary." Mr. Prospector adjusted his glasses before punching numbers into his calculator.

"Of course." Before she left the bridge, Yurika punched a passcode into a wall safe, then opened it and handed Mindy a pistol.

Down in the hangar, Mindy and the security team watched from the observation bay as the unknown contact came into view. It then proceeded to crash spectacularly on the hangar floor, face down. The mecha seemed to struggle for a bit, going through several poses and positions before finally crouching down on one knee. Mindy and the security team then went down to the hangar floor, and when she saw the mecha, she flinched in recognition.

The mecha was lemon yellow with metallic orange accents. It was around 16 meters tall, and most of the plating was curved outward to some degree. The head resembled cube standing on one of its vertices with the 'flat' sides facing forward, and a large rectangular prism-like extension jutted out diagonally upward from the back of the head. Instead of a pair of eyes or a single visor, five incredibly thin green visors lined the 'face' of the mech, spaced out several centimeters apart. '_It looks just like that test unit I had...but what's it doing here?_' Mindy thought to herself.

At that moment, the cockpit opened, and, to everyone's surprise, four young girls came tumbling out. One had blazing, messy red hair that somehow defied gravity in places and green eyes, with a rough yet elegant face. Another had short, blonde hair in a bob, with ocean blue eyes and a smooth round face. The third had long, black hair tied into a single braid, with orange eyes and a smooth, angled face. The last girl had brown hair tied in a ponytail, with a smooth, shallow face, with pink eyes. All four of them were wearing grey, loose-fitting tunics.

"Dammit! That cockpit is way too small for four people!" The redhead lamented, "Is everyone alright?"

"Oh god, I think I'm going to be sick…" the brown-haired girl began to gag, before throwing up on the floor, thankfully away from everyone else.

"Exi! Hang on, I think there's still some water in the cockpit!" The blonde-haired girl immediately went back inside the mysterious mech before emerging with a water bottle. She handed it to Exi, who accepted the bottle wordlessly.

Mindy cleared her throat, which got the attention of all four of the girls.

"Excuse me, but who are you girls?"

"Nikos Valor!" The redhead chirped.

"Mia Melua Mayfelt." The blonde replied timidly.

"Reina Marquis." The black-haired girl said.

"Exi Blaze." Exi groaned, still clutching her stomach.

"Okay, next question: where did you come from?" Mindy asked somewhat imposingly. The four girls shared a glance before looking down at the floor.

"We're not sure…" Reina replied.

Meanwhile, Hikari, Akito, Gai, and the Mazinger group were salvaging the debris from the recent battle when Noal radioed in.

"Guys, I've got a really big radar contact, and it looks like it's heading this way! Nadesico do you read me?"

"Nadesico here. It appears to be a large group of Jovian Lizards." Ruri replied, "By Omoikane's estimates, there are 36 Battas and 3 Katanbos."

"That's...a lot of enemies." Hikari replied uneasily. "Fortune to hangar, could you get the shotgun ready? I'm out of ammo anyway." With that, Hikari started to head back toward the Nadesico to exchange the Fortune's 25 mm assault rifle for a 53 mm shotgun. He also had access to an 87 mm grenade launcher, but he felt that wasn't appropriate for the current situation, and he could only use one primary weapon at a time.

"Finally, now I can really cut loose!" Kouji exclaimed over the radio, moving in and firing both of Mazinger Z's fists in Iron Cutter mode. Sayaka fired off a pair of chest-based missiles, and Akito fired with his rifle on full automatic at another Batta, both of them destroying another. Gai weaved in and out of the Batta formation, setting the power in his distortion field to maximum.

"Eat this, cretins! Taste the fist of my soul! Gekigan Flarrre!" Gai barrelled through three Battas before realizing that he had gone out of range of the Nadesico's Gravity Wave Antennae, and hurried back into range. The Battas responded by unleashing a swarm of missiles at the group, forcing them to scatter, as there were far too many to shoot down. Yurika realized that if all of the missiles hit the Nadesico, it would take significant damage.

"Minato! Hard to port! Evasive maneuvers!"

"Roger!" Minato immediately turned the Nadesico to the left, managing to avoid about a third of the missiles, with the rest impacting on the distortion field. Yurika then realized that they were sitting ducks for the Katanbos, and ordered as much power to be diverted to the distortion field as possible.

"All crew, brace for impact!"

Suddenly, one of the Katanbos exploded, drawing the attention of the other two. Ruri magnified the view to find that three new Aestivalis had entered the fray. One was maroon, the second was gold, and the third was a dark shade of green. A voice crackled over the radio, "Pardon our delay, but the reinforce-mints have arrived!"

"Dammit Izumi! What did I tell you about making puns in combat?"

"Oh come on Ryoko, that was actually pretty good!"

"Can it Hikaru!"

"More idiots?" Ruri thought out loud. "They're friendlies, by the way."

"Okay kid, you're loaded up and ready go!" Uribitake gave Hikari a thumbs up.

"Got it! Fortune, launching again!"

Hikari headed toward the main battle, blasting a Batta at point blank before destroying another with the Fortune's railgun.

However, even with the addition of three new units, the group still struggled against the sheer numbers of the enemy, group, often being forced to dodge and weave to even damage an enemy unit. Hikari's shotgun was especially devastating even at long ranges, but against the Katanbos it was near useless unless he was at point blank, which was out the question at the moment. Even the Nadesico's Gravity Blast was mostly nullified by the Katanbos having their own distortion fields. '_Dammit,_' he thought to himself, '_How are we getting out of this one?_'

Back down in the hangar, the Batta's missile salvo had knocked Mindy towards the unknown unit. She managed to avoid falling by grabbing its leg, at which point something odd happened. The visors on its helmet began to glow, and the screens inside the cockpit began to change. Reina and Nikos immediately noticed this, and quickly went back into the cockpit to see what was happening while Mia comforted Exi, who was still suffering the aftereffects of her motion sickness. Reina and Nikos spoke to each other in hushed voices.

"What the? I've never seen the Resonator system react like this before!" Nikos exclaimed as quietly as she could.

"The Resonator system only reacts when in close contact, right? That means it has to be her!" Reina replied more quietly

"You mean that lady holding onto the leg? How would she be able to use the Resonator system?"

"I don't know, but-"

"Excuse me?" Both of the girls looked down at Mindy. "I can hear you, you know." She said somewhat sternly. "How do you know about the Resonator system?"

"Uh…" Nikos went blank eyed for a second, trying to come up with an adequate response.

"Does that really matter at this point?" Reina countered, "As I see it, you look like you can use this machine, and the ship is in danger at the moment. Why look a gift horse in the mouth?"

Mindy flinched at those words, and her arm began to twitch again. She clasped her elbow with her right hand, before closing her eyes taking a deep breath. She exhaled and opened her eyes before climbing into the cockpit.

"Move over." Mindy said to Nikos, who immediately complied after tearing off the sleeves on her tunic, with Reina doing the same. Upon closer examination, she saw that the cockpit was designed to accommodate three people.

"I don't suppose you two can help me pilot this thing?" Mindy asked in a somewhat deadpan manner to Reina and Nikos, who both merely nodded before getting into the other seats. "Good." She then stuck her head out of the cockpit. "Take Exi down to sickbay, she looks like she needs it. Take Mia with you as well." Mindy called out to the security team.

Mindy then closed the cockpit. and leaned back. A display of her brainwave patterns came up on screen which she swept aside with a single thought. '_A neural interface just like the one I had? Where did this unit come from?_' Another explosion rocked the ship. '_I can worry about that later. Right now we have to survive! What...Titania? That's the name of the unit, then? I see..._'

"Captain, I'm going out in the unknown unit. Titania, launching!" With those words, the Titania flew back out the way it had entered the Nadesico, unlimbering a massive rifle that had been stored in its back. Mindy noted that the rifle was set in Anti-Armor mode. She decided to take the opportunity to ask Nikos and reina about the Titania's capabilities.

"Nikos, Reina, what does this unit have?"

"Well, we have a pair of missile launchers in the waist…" Reina replied.

"The rifle can be set to Anti-Armor, beam mode, or C-mode. You can also convert it into a pistol for close combat." Nikos chimed in.

"C-mode? What does that do?"

"We'll tell you more when you use it! Here they come!" Nikos exclaimed.

BGM-Futari wa Pretty Cure OST "Pretty Cure Appearance"

A Batta began to charge the Titania in a distortion field empowered tackle. Mindy was able to dodge easily, and fired three anti-armor rounds into its back, causing it to explode. She then converted the rifle into its pistol form, firing beam shots at several other Battas with unerring accuracy. Mindy took careful note of the heat indicator on her display, knowing full well that the heat built up in one form would carry over to another. She dodged a salvo of missiles from another Batta before responding with the Titania's own missile launchers, launching a total of 12 missiles at the Batta, all of them hitting dead on, causing it to explode. The others were very much impressed by Mindy's skill.

"All right!" Hikari yelled over the radio. "We can do this! How do we proceed now?"

"I'll provide long-range support. Fortune and Blue Earth, target Katanbo 2. Mazinger Z, Aphrodite, target Katanbo 3. Aestivalis units, focus on the remaining Battas!" Mindy commanded.

"Got it. Attacking!" With that, Hikari charged the Fortune towards the Katanbo designated #2, with Blue Earth close by, dodging laser and railgun rounds. Meanwhile, Akito and Gai weaved in and out of the formation of remaining Battas.

"Akito, match my timing!"

"Got it!" The two Aestivalis began moving in sync, a red streak and a blue streak eventually combining to form a golden trail.

"Take this, the fist of justice! DOUBLE! GEKIGAN! FLAAAAAARE!" Gai yelled.

The two Aestivalis barreled through a majority of the remaining Battas, leaving only 7 remaining. The Aestivalis trio of Ryoko, Hikaru, and Izumi quickly assumed a roughly triangular formation, and hammered the remaining Battas with bullets, destroying all of them. Meanwhile, the Blue Earth engaged Katanbo #2, firing its laser cannons. Unfortunately, most of the damage was nullified by the Katanbo's distortion field. Mindy changed the Titania's rifle to beam mode, firing two ruby-red beams of energy at the Katanbo, weakening its distortion field significantly. Hikari got the Fortune as close to the Katanbo as possible, eventually standing on the ship's distortion field itself, and unloaded what was left in the shotgun's clip at almost point blank before quickly flying away. Ruri chimed in at that point.

"Captain, the distortion field on Katanbo #2 is almost nonexistent."

"Roger that. Gravity Blast, fire!" And so the Nadesico fired its signature weapon at the Katanbo, crushing it and then causing it to explode. In the meantime, Kouji and Sayaka had been hammering Katanbo #3 with their most powerful attacks, but its distortion field was holding strong, and it had suffered only minor damage as a result. A missile salvo from the Nadesico was able to weaken it, but Mazinger Z and Aphrodite A had been forced to withdraw since they were running low on power and ammunition.

"Mindy, now! Use the rifle's C-mode!" Nikos abruptly suggested.

"What? But, I don't even know what it does!" Indeed, despite the neural interface allowing easy access to knowledge of all the Titania's weapons and functions, some parts of it were still difficult to comprehend.

"You just focus on aiming. We'll handle the Resonator engine's output!" Reina encouraged.

"All right…" Mindy removed the rifle components needed for beam mode, and replaced them with those necessary for the use of C-mode, manually attaching them using the Titania's left hand. She aimed the rifle at the Katanbo, and suddenly felt a rush of energy as a massive ruby-red crystal began to form.

"Output, stable!" Reina grunted.

"Crystal formation complete! Mindy, now!" Nikos exclaimed.

"RS-rifle, C-mode, firing!"

Mindy fired the massive crystal, which had taken a jagged, elongated, rhombohedron shape. It smashed against the Katanbo, shattering on impact and releasing enough kinetic energy to rival the shock wave of a cruise missile. The end result was a spectacular explosion, which, though inaudible in space, was incredibly satisfying to watch. Only then did Mindy notice how quickly she was breathing, and that her left arm had not acted up at all during the battle. She glanced back at Nikos and Reina, who both had looks of exhaustion on their faces.

'_Just who are these girls?_' She thought to herself.


	5. A new threat? Chaos on the Red Planet!

When Mindy landed back on the Nadesico in the Titania, all of the other pilots and maintenance crew began crowding around her, Nikos, and Reina. Uribitake, in particular, was instantly enamored by their machine. Before the inevitable torrent of questions could get started, Mindy held up her index finger to indicate that she wanted silence.

"I'll explain what I think I know down in sickbay. I have a few questions of my own as well."

When Mindy, Nikos, Reina, Hikari, Akito, Gai, Ryoko, Kouji, and Noal got down to sickbay, they found Yurika and Mr. Prospector waiting for them. They gathered around the bed where Exi was, who seemed to have recovered from her earlier motion sickness. As soon as everyone was seated, Mindy decided to ask the four girls who had come with the unit a simple question.

"Do any of you know what Pantheon Gateway is?"

The four girls exchanged an uneasy look before Reina decided to speak for the group.

"No. We don't know what that is."

"Where did you come from then?" Mindy asked. This caused all four girls to momentarily freeze up, with a look of fear now visible on their faces.

"All we remember is someone shoving us into the Titania, telling us that we had to escape." Mia said, barely audible.

"Aside from that, well...we'd...rather not talk about anything else we remember. I doubt it would help you, and it's...not very pleasant." Exi shuddered.

At this, all present exchanged a wary glance. Mindy knew that she wasn't going to get anything else out of the girls, so she decided to explain what she knew.

"After I left the military, I was picked up by a company called Pantheon Gateway as a test pilot. They were working on a new interface called the Resonator. It was a neural interface, designed so that even if the pilot were maimed or crippled, they would still be able to use the machine."

"Ah, yes," Mr. Prospector adjusted his glasses, "the technology showed promise, but they went bankrupt, which was the impetus for your recruitment by Nergal, yes?"

"Yes," Mindy nodded, "but what isn't common knowledge is that the reason Pantheon Gateway went bankrupt was that a test unit went berserk during a trial run. All of the test units, research data, and blueprints were lost in the ensuing destruction, and most of the test pilots were either killed or left quadriplegic. As far as I know, I got off light, and even then, I had to get physical therapy for my arm."

There was a long silence before Hikari decided to prod the elephant in the room.

"If Pantheon Gateway no longer exists, and no one else is able to make anything that they had, then where did the Titania come from? The more I think about it, the more that 'accident' the company had sounds like sabotage."

"That's what I'd like to know." Mindy stood up, "But we're not getting any answers now. Mr. Prospector, I'd like to have my position changed to 'pilot' please."

"Ah! Splendid. I was going to ask you anyway, but it seems you've already decided. You can expect a 50% increase in your pay. If you'd like, I can arrange a contract with your new copilots as well."

"Do what you will." Mindy said somewhat dismissively. At that point, Hikari decided to ask Mr. Prospector something.

"Excuse me, but...are we paid too?"

"I thought you'd never ask, Mr. Daishi." Mr. Prospector began to rifle through his briefcase before presenting Hikari with a document, "Nergal is paying the Photon Power labs directly in the case of Mr. Kabuto and Ms. Yumi, but for you, it was decided that you should receive a more… personal compensation for your time and effort."

Hikari's eyes widened at the amount of money he would be receiving.

"A-Are you sure it's okay to give me this much?"

"You are risking your life while onboard this ship, and besides, college is expensive, is it not?" Mr. Prospector adjusted his glasses.

"I guess you're right. Thanks…" Hikari nervously rubbed the back of his head. After some more discussion and speculation amongst themselves, the group headed back to their respective posts with the exception of Gai, who had to remain in sickbay due to his still broken leg.

Come dinnertime, everyone in the cafeteria except those who had been present for the discussion in sickbay were discussing the Titania and formulating their own theories. Mindy sighed as she took a seat next to the four girls. Nikos was in the process of scarfing down a steak that Akito had prepared, medium-well. Reina had a bowl of ramen in front of her, while Mia had already finished her pasta, and was halfway through a slice of cheesecake. Exi, not wanting to risk agitating her stomach again that day, had opted for a bowl of soup.

"I don't think I've ever had food this good! You sure Akito's still in training as a chef?" Nikos enthused.

"Ignore her. She's only like this since we had to subsist on dry crackers and water for the last few days." Reina jabbed. Nikos let out a muffled protest through a mouthful of steak.

"Oh come on, wouldn't anyone be like this after going through something like that? I know I am, and all I've got is soup!" Exi countered with a flirtatious wink.

"Besides, this food really is good! Akito's an amazing chef!" Mia smiled with her fork in her mouth. At that moment, Hikari saw the look on Mia's face before he sat down next to them.

'_So cute...'_" he thought to himself, trying not to blush.

Mindy, meanwhile, cradled her forehead with her right hand before taking a bite out of her sandwich.

'_I can already tell these girls are going to be a handful. I hope I don't regret this._' She mentally lamented. At that moment, Aki, Ryoko, Kouji, and Sayaka sat down at their table, and the conversation shifted to casual topics. Hikari was recounting his first time piloting the Fortune, and Ryoko burst out laughing at one point.

"You tripped over a car? HA! I know that was your first time, but still.." Ryoko choked out between giggles. Mindy, despite herself, smiled for the first time since Nergal had hired her.

The rest of the trip to Mars passed by without major incident, with the Nadesico arriving at Mars on schedule. After evading a group of Jovian Lizards, the Nadesico entered the Martian atmosphere, its first destination being the colony in the planet's southern hemisphere. Just after entering Mars' stratosphere, Ruri noticed something odd.

"Captain, I'm detecting a group of automated robotic units. They aren't Jovian Lizards."

"Uh-oh! Are they headed for us?"

"Negative, captain. Based on the available data, they appear to headed toward what's left of the colony. A moment, please...the unknowns appear to have engaged a group of Jovian Lizards. Putting the battle on screen."

Ruri magnified said battle, zooming in on the unknowns as much as possible. They were grey, almost skeletal humanoid robots, each about 9.5 meters in height, with wrist mounted cannons and rectangular heads. Against the Battas, they appeared to be evenly matched, and it appeared that both sides would destroy each other given enough time.

"We probably shouldn't get involved." Yurika voiced the unsaid thoughts of the entire bridge crew. "Minato, take us to the colony as quickly as possible!"

"Roger that captain!" Minato responded cheerfully, accelerating the Nadesico to maximum velocity.

The Martian Colony was encompassed by a large dome. Even though the area within the colony had been terraformed by nanomachines, the new environment would quickly be ruined by the surrounding Martian atmosphere if not protected. The initial Jovian attack had punched a rather large hole through the ceiling of the colony, which had ruined most of the air inside. It was eventually decided that Mindy, accompanied by Mia and Exi in the Titania, Gai, and Akito would enter through the hole in the colony ceiling, with Gai and Akito using Air frames for an aerial search. Meanwhile, the Nadesico would land in the colony's spaceport and unload the Fortune, Ryoko, Hikaru, and Izumi, all in ground frames, Mazinger Z, and Aphrodite A for a ground search. Blue Earth would remain on standby, since the colony ceiling was too low for it to fly around safely, even with the present breach.

As the Titania and Gai and Akito's air frames entered the colony, Mindy couldn't help but note that the colony must have been beautiful before this. She could see what used to be a park, with all of the plants a withered brown. An artificial river that had no doubt been blue was now a reddish brown, and a shard of glass from the colony ceiling ruined the aerial view of a nearby square. The trio of machines began to search the west side of the colony, which was opposite from the spaceport. Shortly afterwards, the Nadesico touched down in the colony spaceport, and the second group was unloaded to search the east side. Hikari had chosen to take the grenade launcher this time, and hopped from roof to roof while everyone else split up throughout the streets. Both groups were to meet at the Cosmic Culture Club building after finishing their areas, as Noal had explained that the reason the OSDG had come along was to bring back any survivors, since they had sponsored the Cosmic Culture Club.

Both groups found nothing of interest, and upon meeting at the Culture Club building, found it in complete ruins. The emergency shelters had been destroyed as well. The mood was quickly becoming grim when Akito noticed something while in the air.

"Hey guys, are those tire tracks outside the colony?"

"You're right." Mindy zoomed in using the RS rifle's scope. "But where are they going?"

"Ruri, is there anything outside the colony?" Yurika wondered out loud.

"A moment, captain…" Ruri accessed the colony plans via Omoikane before responding, "There is a solar array several kilometers outside of the colony dome. Due to the distance from the colony, it has its own emergency shelter for its workers. As of now, it appears to still be active."

"Fantastic! That means there could still be survivors! How much longer until we finish loading the supplies from what's left of the spaceport?" Yurika ecstatically exclaimed.

"A few minutes. There's not much left we can use anyway." Jun, the Nadesico's XO, responded.

It was decided that the Titania, Fortune, and Blue Earth would go ahead to the solar relay while everyone else would go on the Nadesico. After a few minutes of flying, the trio of machines arrived at their destination. It was decided that Noal and Hikari would investigate the shelter while Aki remained on the Blue Earth and Mindy stood guard in the Titania. Hikari uneasily checked the pistol that he had been issued before exiting the Fortune.

Upon knocking on the shelter door, Hikari and Noal heard a muffled conversation behind the door before a male voice called out to them.

"Who is it?"

"Calm down, we're from Earth! We're here to rescue you!" Noal responded. The door slowly opened, and they were greeted by a young man wearing a pilot suit that neither of them recognized. After leading them inside, he took off his helmet. The youth had green eyes and blue hair. He introduced himself as Eiji, and the remaining remembers of the Cosmic Culture Club, David, Roanne, Simone, Anna, Arthur, and Dr. Elizabeth introduced themselves. Aside from them, there were also several workers who had been assigned to the solar array. By the time introductions had been finished, the Nadesico had arrived.

"Come on, you can explain what's going on back on the ship. It's a lot more comfortable there." Noal offered.

"Can you accommodate our machines as well?" Eiji asked. "We have three SPTs."

"Sure, I don't see a problem with that." Noal responded.

On the bridge of the Nadesico, Eiji explained that he was actually half-Gradosian, a people that had established an interstellar empire, and had set their sights on Earth. They perceived the human expansion into space as a threat, and wanted to destroy it before they could be threatened. Eiji had stolen an SPT that had been built by his father-Layzner-in an attempt to save the people of Mars, but he had only been able to rescue the remains of the Cosmic Culture Club. They had managed to build two other SPTs-Baybull and Buldy-using scavenged parts from the Martian colony, and Eiji had taught David and Roanne how to pilot an SPT.

"Wow…" Yurika was shocked. "You guys have been through a lot."

"Yes," Eiji said, "I was afraid that we wouldn't have been able to last much longer, even with three SPTs. We were running low on fuel and ammunition before you came along. I am eternally grateful that you chose to accomodate us." With that, Eiji bowed.

"Oh, no need for thanks! We came to Mars to rescue any and all survivors, and that's what we just did!" Yurika smiled back at Eiji.

"Well, anyway," David said, "when are we leaving?"

"We can't leave just yet." Mr. Prospector explained, "The Nadesico sustained some damage on its way here. We need to find parts for repairs, and the only place we can find them is at Nergal's lab on the North pole. Regardless of the state of the ship, that would have been our next destination anyway."

"Well, I guess it can't be helped," Roanne said with a shrug. At that moment, alarms began to blare on the ship.

"Incoming contacts." Ruri said, "it's the unknowns from before." She brought up a magnified feed of the skeletal robots. Eiji's expression immediately changed to one of distress.

"Skullgunners?! Out here? Captain, this is bad! Those are automated Gradosian murder machines!"

"No need to tell me twice! All remaining pilots, scramble!" Yurika ordered. In short order, everyone had launched, including the SPTs.

"Take them down as quickly as possible!" Eiji advised, "The skullgunners are controlled by a hive-mind AI. They learn from every encounter unless you either take them down quickly or by surprise!"

"Roger that!" Ryoko responded, "Hikaru, Izumi! Assume fragrant olive branch formation!"

The Aestivalis trio assumed a triangular formation before charging forward, firing their rifles on full automatic, destroying three skullgunners. Hikari fired a grenade at a skullgunner, hitting it dead on and destroying it before evading fire from another. He flew towards the skullgunner that had fired at him and proceeded to stab it in the head with the Fortune's knife, then grabbed what was left of it as a shield, firing the grenade launcher one-handed.

"Gekigan Launcher!" Gai yelled, firing his missile pods at a skullgunner that was above him. Though the missiles hit, they failed to destroy it, so he finished it off with a burst from his rifle, yelling, "Gekigan Shot!"

Mazinger Z engulfed a group of skullgunners in its Rust Hurricane attack, reducing all but one to rust, which Sayaka finished off with a punch from Aphrodite A. Meanwhile, Eiji destroyed another with Layzner's calf-based missiles. David and Roanne, however, were struggling somewhat, still getting used to their machines. Thankfully, despite the skullgunner's numbers and hive-mind AI, the group was able to destroy them without suffering any major damage.

Unfortunately, another group of unknowns was fast approaching. They came into sight a few seconds later. Most them were identified by Eiji as Bravers, each about the height of Layzner, but with an oddly shaped head that was reminiscent of a helmet. There were was one that was black with red accents and a green visor, which Eiji identified as a Bullgreen, a unit used by more elite soldiers. Another was white, with black accents around the head and a single green eye, which was a Dimage, according to Eiji. They were being led by an SPT with a purple body and red visor known as a Greimkaiser, who contacted Eiji over the radio.

"Eiji, I can overlook stowing away on a ship, but stealing an SPT is considered a capital offense, which is something I can't ignore."

"Gale?" Eiji responded, momentarily shocked. "Gale, please, stop this!"

"It's out of my hands, Eiji," Gale said, "I have orders to bring you back to face trial. If you come quietly, I can vouch for you. Please, Eiji, think about how much trouble you've caused for Julia."

"All right Gale, I'll come with you on one condition."

"Which is?"

"Let the others go! They have nothing to do with this!"

Gale sighed at his soon to be brother-in-law, "I'm sorry Eiji, I can't do that."

"Bah! Why are you trying to talk to him anyway? Let's just kill them and say they resisted!" The pilot of the Bullgreen complained.

"Quiet, Gosterro." Gale scolded, "Eiji, this is your last chance."

"My answer is final, Gale."

"Pah! I should have known that the half-blood would turn traitor. Commander Gale, it seems pointless to talk any further." The pilot of the Dimage said.

"Agreed, Karla. All units, attack. Disable Layzner, but do not destroy it!" Gale ordered.

BGM-SPT Layzner OST "Like Melos, Lonely way," SRW J ver.

The enemy SPTs rushed forward, with Gosterro leading the charge. He fired two wrist-mounted missiles at Eiji, who managed to evade before firing back. Unfortunately, he missed.

"Warning. Current battle strategy unfavorable. Recommend aiming for vital areas on enemy units." Rei, Layzner's onboard AI advised. Eiji ignored her, and continued to shoot to disable, missing every shot on Gosterro and Gale as a result. Hikari, meanwhile, had just destroyed a Braver with the Fortune's railgun, and was currently facing down Karla. It was taking all of his effort not to get shot by her lasered rifle, while she was able to almost effortlessly dodge his grenades. Suddenly, he had an idea. He fired a grenade at Karla's Dimage, and then fired his railgun at the grenade. The resulting shockwave disoriented Karla, which enable Hikari to stab her Dimage in the shoulder, forcing her to retreat. While this was happening, David and Roanne were assisting Eiji in his battle with Gosterro and Gale. They eventually managed to force Gosterro to retreat by focusing all of their fire on him, destroying his Bullgreen's right arm and rifle as a result. It was at that point that Gale realized that all of the Bravers had been destroyed or disabled, and he decided to beat a hasty retreat as well. The strength of the Earth machines disturbed him, especially that of the Titania and Mazinger Z. Doubts about the invasion began to form in his mind….


	6. An unexpected destination

As the Nadesico flew towards Mars' north pole, the entire crew entered a state of unease. The fact that they now had another threat to deal with didn't really help things. Soon after entering Mars' arctic region, they came upon a group of pyramid shaped structures, which turned out to be the labs.

"Remind me why we're at the north pole again? Aside from searching for survivors and getting spare parts, I mean." Hikari thought out loud on the bridge.

"You may not know it, but most of the technology that the Nadesico runs on was discovered right here, on Mars," Mr. Prospector explained, "and we're here to recover any research data that's left, in addition to searching for survivors, of course."

Hikari nodded in understanding, looking at the display on the main screen. After the Nadesico touched down, the Blue Earth was dispatched with Mr. Prospector on board to recover any data that was left in the labs, with the Fortune as an escort. Everyone else departed on foot to search for survivors and obtain the spare parts they needed to repair the Nadesico. Akito and Megumi eventually found several dozen, hiding in the emergency shelters. Oddly, instead of scrambling for the Nadesico, they chose to send a single person to talk with Yurika. What she chose to say on the behalf of the survivors shocked Yurika to no end.

"You all refuse to come aboard? Why?" Yurika asked.

"As we see it, boarding the Nadesico would be suicide. As the ship's designer, I agree with them. You have no hope of repelling a full-scale Jovian assault." Professor Inez Fresange, the representative of the survivors, curtly replied.

"Well that's a stupid reason! You people aren't even gonna try?" Akito retorted, while David and Eiji nodded in agreement.

"Our answer is final. Now if you would excuse me-" Inez was suddenly cut off by Ruri.

"Captain, a large force of Jovian Lizards is approaching. Their numbers are beyond anything we've ever encountered."

"Where'd they come from?" Yurika asked.

"There is a Tulip not far from here. It became active just now." Ruri explained.

"Take off and raise the distortion field!" Yurika ordered.

"Captain, we can't! We need at least an hour after landing before we can take off again! They'll be here in 5 minutes!" Megumi responded.

"Then just raise the distortion field!" Yurika amended her previous order.

"If we do that here, we'll crush the shelters!" Megumi distraughtly explained, "We're too close to the ground!"

"It appears you have a choice: save yourselves, and destroy the people you wish to save, or risk total destruction for the sake of your false sense of superiority. Which will you choose?" Inez postulated in a matter-of-fact-tone.

"You shut up!" Akito retorted. The two of them proceeded to argue, with Yurika looking on passively, before Ruri was forced to break it up.

"Captain, incoming barrage." Ruri said, her tone of voice unusually shaky.

"R-Raise the distortion field!" Yurika choked out.

The sound of rock and ice being crushed could be heard the instant before the long-range salvo impacted on the Nadesico's distortion field. Yurika covered her mouth with her hands in shock, before rushing off the bridge, clearly distressed. Jun, being the XO of the ship, immediately took charge.

"Dammit! Order everyone to launch! And get the Fortune and Blue Earth back here!" He ordered.

Everyone sortied in their respective units in short order, with Nikos and Mia accompanying Mindy in the Titania, while the Fortune and Blue Earth got back a few seconds after that.

"Hey guys, what's going on? Did you find anyone else?" Hikari asked.

"You...don't want to know what happened." Nikos said. That was all that Hikari had to hear. At that moment, another group of contacts appeared on the radar.

"Acting Captain, there is a group of SPTs headed this way." Ruri cautioned Jun.

"Tell everyone to focus on defending the Nadesico! Orient us toward the Jovian Lizards! Fire the Gravity Blast as soon as they're in range!" Jun responded. A few seconds later, the Gravity Blast fired, destroying a large number of Battas.

The pilots split into two groups to defend the Nadesico. Mindy, Gai, Akito, Blue Earth, Mazinger Z, and Aphrodite A dealt with the Jovian Lizards while Hikari, Eiji, David, Roanne,Royoko, Hikaru, and Izumi dealt with the Gradosians. The sheer number of their enemies would normally have made staying there suicide, but the Jovians and Gradosians fought each other somewhat more than with the Nadesico and its crew, which made things easier.

Eiji soon spotted Gale's Greimkaiser, and spurred Layzner forward to meet it. However, five Bravers immediately got in between them. He put Layzner into a dive to avoid the incoming fire, and managed to hit one in the leg with his lasered rifle. Hikari rushed forward, firing the Fortune's assault rifle at another, then stabbed it in the head with its knife after he realized that there had only been three bullets left in the clip. He fired his railgun at the third Braver while reloading, but missed, and it was instead disabled by David. Hikaru and Izumi flew side-by-side, plowing through the fourth with distortion punches, which enabled Ryoko to do the same to the last Braver. Eiji moved in, intending to disable Gale's Greimkaiser with Layzner's knuckles. Unfortunately, Gale was much more skilled than Eiji, and was able to evade the first blow while simultaneously damaging Layzner.

"Warning. Damage to left leg approaching danger zone. Recommend aiming for cockpit or torso area." Rei warned Eiji. Again, he ignored her, while continuing to press his attack.

At the same time, Mindy had just shot down a salvo of missiles using her rifle's pistol mode, and retaliated with the Titania's missile launchers. However, the brief moment that it had to stay still enabled a Batta to tackle it, which disoriented Mindy enough to temporarily disconnect her from the Resonator engine. Thankfully, Mia was able to maneuver the Titania while Mindy reconnected to the Resonator engine, and Nikos dispatched the offending Batta in the meantime with the RS rifle's beam mode. Akito and Gai, meanwhile, had expended all of the missiles in their airframes, and were running low on ammunition for their rifles. Gai was the first to run out, and tossed his Aestivalis' rifle aside, drawing its knife. He proceeded to stab a Batta through the eye, and tossed it into another, causing both to explode. Akito plowed through another with his self-proclaimed 'Gekigan Flare', and shot the leg off yet another, which enabled Blue Earth to dispatch it easily. In the meantime, Kouji and Sayaka had destroyed two Katanbos using a combination of Mazinger Z's breast fire and Aphrodite A's chest missiles. Unfortunately, Sayaka was now out of ammunition, and was forced to resort to throwing chunks of dry ice at the airborne Battas. Mazinger Z itself was starting to run low on energy, and Kouji was using the same tactic to conserve what little he had left.

Back on Hikari's side of things, the battle had stalled. Eiji was again trying to convince Gale to either stop the invasion or join them, with Gale refusing to comply. All the while, the group was preventing the Bravers from advancing any further. Unfortunately, Gosterro chose to join the fray at that moment, and he began to argue with Gale.

"Why don't we just kill them? It'll make things a lot easier!" Gosterro argued.

"We have orders to bring him back alive, by force if necessary, but alive!" Gale countered.

"Pft, really? We can just say they self-destructed, or better yet, that there was no other way no get out alive!" Gosterro chortled.

"I will not allow your insubordination, Gosterro! Withdraw from the battlefield, now!" Gale ordered. Gosterro responded by shooting Gale's Greimkaiser in the shoulder.

"I just want to kill things, and you're in my way!" Gosterro yelled.

"Gale!" Eiji yelled, charging Gosterro with Layzner's knuckles, its rifle having run out of ammunition. Gosterro countered with his Bullgreen's own knuckles, and was soon being forced back. David and Roanne tried to help, but Gosterro was able to hit Buldy and Baybull in the shoulder with a missile, forcing both of them to retreat back to the Nadesico. Hikari tried to help, but a duo of Bravers got in his way, and the Aestivalis trio was too far away. Just when Gosterro was about to smash in Layzner's cockpit, Layzner began to emit a blue field, and suddenly shot away at very high speeds, plowing through any Braver or Batta unfortunate enough to be in the way. Any laser or beam rounds that hit were deflected by the blue field. Layzner smahsed into Gosterro's Bullgreen once, twice, and then three times, smashing the visor on its head and exposing the cockpit as a result in addition to dismembering an arm and a leg. It began to fall out of the air before exploding. Eiji did not realize what had happened until Layzner came to a stop in midair, having almost passed out due to the sudden increase in speed. At this point, the Gradosians and Jovians had mostly annihilated each other, with the few forces left on the Gradosian side choosing to retreat.

Eiji attempted to drag Gale and his Greimkaiser back to the Nadesico, but was unable to, since his SPT was on the verge of overheating from using the blue field earlier. Hikari contacted Eiji over the radio after realizing what he was trying to do.

"Are you sure that's a good idea? He tried to kill us!"

"I'm not leaving him here to die!" Eiji responded, "He's my sister's fiance, and he's like an older brother to me!"

"But what if he tries to stab us in the back when he recovers?" Ryoko asked, supporting Hikari.

"I don't see a problem with it." Yurika chimed in, "We can keep him in confinement once he recovers, but I'm sure he'll appreciate our help too much to consider stabbing us in the back!"

"Captain, are you sure this is a good idea?" Mindy joined the conversation.

"If we left him out here, we'd be no better than the Jovians or Gradosians!" Sayaka argued.

"Well, when you put it that way, I guess I can't argue." Hikari grudgingly agreed. "I'll take him back." With that, he carefully hoisted up Gale's damaged Greimkaiser by the shoulder, and, with the help of Izumi, was able to place it in the hangar of the Nadesico.

After quickly salvaging what little of the SPT wreckage for parts and ammunition that they could, Hikari, Mindy, Nikos, Reina, Mia, Exi, Inez, Akito, Eiji, Noal, and Aki met with the bridge crew to discuss their next plan of action. Gale had since been safely stabilized in the infirmary, but was still unconscious and under guard. Akito had since consoled Yurika and convinced her to come back on the bridge as well.

"As I see it, using the Tulip is our only way out of this." Professor Fresange stated.

"But that's crazy! The warship Crocus was swallowed up by a Tulip, and when it was found two months later, everyone on board was dead!" Akito countered.

"Yes, but the Nadesico has the distortion field to protect us. The Crocus didn't." Inez stated matter-of-factly.

"How do you know that's gonna be the deciding factor?" Noal retorted, "We have no idea how those things even work!"

"Yes, but as it is, we'd get shot to pieces trying leave Mars conventionally, even with the distortion field." Minato pointed out, with Mr. Prospector nodding in agreement, though somewhat reluctantly.

"You'll have to make a decision now, captain." Ruri suddenly announced, "There is a large group of Katanbos headed our way, and a group of unknown ships heading in from the opposite direction." She magnified the feed of the unknown warships, which Eiji immediately recognized.

"Captain, those are Gradosian warhips! We have to leave, now!"

"Okay, kinda freaking out now!" Yurika admitted, "Minato, take us into the tulip!"

"Roger!" Minato replied, though somewhat shakily. The Nadesico flew toward the Tulip as fast as it could. Unfortunately, a Gradosian warship got in the way at the last moment.

"Ruri, charge the Gravity Blast!" Yurika ordered.

"Wait! We're too close! We could accidentally destroy the Tulip if we fire now!" Inez protested. At that moment, the Gradosian ship fired its beam cannon at the Nadesico, causing it to shake.

"Captain, an Aestivalis air frame is launching. It's Mr. Daigoji's." Ruri said, her tone more alarmed than usual.

"Gai! What are you doing?" Akito yelled into the radio.

"This is the only way all of you can get out of this!" Gai responded before switching to an open frequency, "You shall not bar the bath of my fair captain and her ship, evildoers! Gekigan Field, OVERDRIVE! SUPER! GEKIGAN! FLARRRRRRRRRRRE!"

Gai's airframe smashed into the Gradosian ship, causing it to explode in a massive fireball. Akito fell to his knees in shock, while the Yurika covered her mouth with her hands. Mia buried her face in Reina's shoulder, who proceeded to comfort her, though she was disturbed as well. Everyone else was too shocked to do or say anything as the Nadesico entered the Tulip. Moments after, everyone on the ship lost consciousness…

Yurika regained her senses slowly, before realizing two things: First, she wasn't on the bridge. Second, she was sprawled on top of Akito in a very awkward position. What made it worse (or possibly better) was that Akito was still unconscious. Yurika considered engulfing him with a passionate kiss, but her thoughts were interrupted when Ruri called on the intercom.

"Captain, you're going to want to see this."

"What is it, Ruri?" Yurika asked.

"Just come up here and I'll show you why." Ruri responded.

When Yurika got up to the bridge, the rest of the crew aside from Ruri were still in varying states of grogginess, having just woken up. When Yurika saw the display, she immediately understood the problem.

"Ruri, where are are we, exactly?" Yurika asked, scratching her head.

"You're not going to like this captain, but we're not in the Earth Sphere. We're not even in the solar system anymore." Ruri reported.

A/N: _Sorry for the late update, summer classes really take a lot of time. Also, internet cookie for anyone who can guess where the Nadesico was thrown out at!_


	7. A Pleasant Intervention

A/N: _I understand that there have been...similarities to SRW J these past few chapters. In retrospect, I should have thought out the beginning a bit more, but I promise that things will be very different from this point on._

"We're...not in the solar system?" Yurika asked.

"Correct, captain. This asteroid belt is far too densely packed with material to be the solar system's asteroid belt." Ruri explained.

"But...how'd we get here?" Yurika puzzled.

"I think I can explain that." Inez suddenly popped out of seemingly nowhere, having entered the bridge at some point. She cleared her throat before continuing.

"It's quite likely that the exploding Gradosian warship that Mr. Daigoji destroyed also damaged that Tulip. This is pure speculation, but I'd say that there is a theoretical safe distance for the Tulips to transport objects. We must have damaged whatever limited the distance on that Tulip, and as a result, were thrown out here, wherever here is." Inez brought up several diagrams and equations while she was explaining things via IFS nanomachines to emphasize her point.

"Can we use the Phase Transition Engines to get back to Earth?" Yurika pondered.

"There's two problems with that, captain," Inez replied, "first, we have no idea where we are, so the chances of heading in the wrong direction are very likely. Second, even if we knew where we were, it could possibly take weeks, months, or even years to get back, even with the Phase Transition Engines, and I doubt our food supply would hold out that long."

"Are you telling me that we're stranded in deep space!?" Yurika yelped, unable to bear the thought, even if she was with Akito the whole time.

"A moment, captain. I've detected several large ships in the distance, about 100 kilometers away. They match the data for an NUNS colonization fleet." Ruri chimed in.

"Can we contact them?" Yurika asked.

"I'm trying, but the long range transmitter looks like it was damaged by whatever threw us out here." Megumi reported. Suddenly, the ship was rocked by several small explosions. Thankfully, the distortion field had been partially powered, and as a result the damage was minimal.

"Multiple contacts detected. According to Omoikane's data, they're Vajra." Ruri reported.

"Full power to the distortion field! Ruri, ready the Gravity Blast! Order all pilots to scramble!" Yurika ordered.

In short order, everyone had sortied in their respective machines, with Exi and Nikos accompanying Mindy. Hikari had chosen to take the shotgun, and all of the Aestivalis had changed back to 0G frames. It quickly became clear that they were outmatched for several reasons. First, the Vajra easily dwarfed the Aestivalis frames, SPTs, and Blue Earth. The Aestivalis had their own distortion fields, but a solid hit on the SPTs would most certainly be fatal. Roanne was able to stay back and provide support via Buldy's shoulder cannon, but Eiji and David were forced to engage the Vajra in close combat. To their displeasure, they found that their lasered rifles did nothing more than give the Vajra slight burns, with their units' knuckles and Layzner's missiles the only things being effective against them. The second was that the Vajra inexplicably had access to organic missiles. They always fired them in large numbers, and they were fast and hard to track. Hikari had barely managed to shoot down the first swarm that had targeted him, only to take a majority of a second salvo. The third reason was that the Vajra were incredibly fast, which made things especially difficult for Kouji and Sayaka, considering the size of their machines.

Hikari dodged a Vajra that had attempted to tackle the Fortune before shooting it in the underbelly with its shotgun. He fired the Fortune's railgun at another, only clipping it before quickly moving in and stabbing it with his knife. He hid behind an asteroid to reload, mindful that most of the armor on the Fortune's arms had been shredded off by the missile salvo he had endured earlier. He saw the Blue Earth zip by, a trio of the brown, insectoid aliens behind it, and fired another round from his railgun into one of the Vajra, nailing it in the shoulder. The other two were destroyed by a single anti-armor round each from the Titania's RS rifle. Though not scared witless like Nikos and Exi, Mindy was still quite unnerved by the Vajra, and how ruthlessly efficient they were. The only reason the Nadesico hadn't been destroyed was because of its Distortion Field, and it wasn't going to last much longer under the current circumstances. She batted away a Vajra that had come too close using the butt of the Titania's rifle before destroying it with the Titania's missile launchers. She evaded fire from another Vajra while Exi switched the RS rifle to beam mode, and dispatched it with a single shot.

At that moment, a new type of Vajra entered the battle. Unlike the brown Vajra, which were meant for close to mid-range combat, these larger Vajra were red, and had what looked like some kind of cannon mounted on their back. Yurika, immediately realizing the danger that the large-type Vajra posed, ordered everyone except Mazinger Z and Aphrodite A to focus on them. Unfortunately, the large-type Vajra fired before any of the group were able to get close, and severely weakened the distortion field.

"Captain, another salvo like that will destroy us." Ruri alerted Yurika.

"Minato, hard to starboard! Evasive maneuvers!" Yurika ordered. Unfortunately, the Vajra seemed to anticipate this, as they found a trio of large-type Vajra in addition to 15 smaller Vajra waiting behind the asteroid that the Nadesico had been heading towards. All the smaller Vajra fired off missiles, and the large-type Vajra were about to fire their beam cannons when suddenly a series of glowing blue bullets impacted the rightmost large-type, destroying it, followed by smaller versions of said bullets shooting down every Vajra missile, followed by a large salvo of normal missiles obliterating all the remaining Vajra behind the asteroid.

BGM-Macross Frontier OST "Sagittarius 9PM, Don't be late"

"This is Captain Ozma Lee of the SMS Quarter Skull Squadron. Unknown ship, are you alright?" A voice crackled over the radio.

"This is the Nergal warship Nadesico! Can you help us?" Megumi responded.

"That's why we came out here in the first place! All craft, Planet Dance!" Ozma ordered the rest of Skull Squad.

Their saviors almost immediately came into view: 4 VF-25 Messiahs, one brown with gold trim, one red with white trim, one blue with white trim, and one green with white trim that was carrying some kind of comm array, a reconnaissance version dubbed the RVF-25, as well as 3 Quaedluun Reas, one of which was red, while the other two were green. The blue VF-25 shifted into battroid form before settling on an asteroid, sniping Vajra with a rifle that, when unfolded, had two sets of extensions running diagonally from the center. In the meantime, three Ghost X-7 drones that had been flying in a formation around the RVF-25 suddenly broke off and started engaging that Vajra, while the remaining two shifted to gerwalk form, firing as they advanced. The Quaedluuns moved forward as well, firing their wrist-mounted tri-barreled cannons. While all of this was happening, the Nadesico's pilots returned to the ship, having either run out of ammunition or become too damaged to risk fighting any more. Suddenly, the black and gold variable fighter shifted into battroid form before firing a total of 60 missiles at the Vajra swarming before it, destroying all of them.

"Canaria! Your catwalk!" Ozma yelled over the radio.

"Roger!" Canaria responded, her VB-9 Koenig Monster flying in, "Rabbit-1 to Nadesico. I'm going to borrow your deck!"

"This is Nadesico. Please be gentle!" Megumi responded.

"Divert all the power we can to the Distortion Field!" Yurika ordered.

Canaria's VB-9 shifted into destroid form before skidding on the Nadesico's Distortion Field and stopping. It immediately deployed braces before firing 3 missiles from each of its launchers and 4 reaction shells. The resulting explosion was quite spectacular, eliminating over three-fourths of the remaining Vajra. The force of the recoil from firing was so great that the Nadesico's Distortion Field actually strained under the force, flickering slightly before returning to normal.

The battle seemed to have been won when suddenly, both the Nadesico and Macross Quarter picked up an incoming Fold signature, though only the crew of the Quarter recognized it. A moment later, a Vajra that was easily 5 times larger than the Quarter folded in, obliterating one of the Ghost X-7s in the process. It resembled a gigantic mouth, and immediately fired a green beam at one of the NUNS ships that had accompanied the Quarter to the Nadesico's location, destroying it in one shot. To make things worse, a large-type Vajra grabbed the RVF-25 and dragged it into the maw of the ship, which then closed.

"Luca!" One of the VF-25 pilots yelled over the radio. He gunned his Valkyrie in an attempt to get into the ship.

"Alto, what are you doing? That thing's like a hedgehog!" The pilot of the sniper type Valkyrie, Michel, warned. Indeed, there were point defenses everywhere on the Vajra ship, with the only thing that had prevented Alto's destruction being his Valkyrie's armor pack.

"Tch! Looks like there's no stopping him! Canaria, Michel!" Ozma ordered. The both of them complied, with Canaria firing another salvo of reaction shells and Michel sniping Vajra that Alto or Canaria had missed. Michel then noticed a magenta Variable Fighter moving extremely erratically toward the Vajra ship very quickly, but it disappeared inside before he could say anything. Alto evaded fire from one point defense opening, shifted into battroid form, firing a few missiles at a Vajra that had come too close, then shifted back into fighter mode, purging his VF-25's armor pack to draw away another salvo of organic missiles. He charged at the Vajra ship, firing his gunpod at its side until a hole was blown in the ships hull, and then shifted into battroid form, taking cover and peeking around a corner.

The whole time, the crew of the Nadesico had been observing the battle, since all of their machines were either too damaged to use without risk or almost out of energy. Hikari watched the unfolding battle with unease, as were most of the other pilots. Mia and Nikos were clinging to Mindy, while Exi and Reina were clinging to each other out of fright. Akito simply stared at the floor, too shocked by the combination of Gai's death and the stress of the battle to say anything.

Meanwhile, on the bridge of the Quarter, Captain Jeffrey Wilder was contemplating a course of action with his bridge crew. He turned to Monica, the ship's main operations officer.

"What are our chances against that thing?" He asked.

"Ram has already analyzed the enemy's firing patterns and put together an evasion algorithm. At top speed, victory is ours." Monica responded.

"Captain!" Catherine Glass, the representative of the NUNS, protested, "It is too dangerous to go out there right now!" Captain Wilder turned toward her.

"Do you recall the orders the President gave to us? We still have a means of accomplishing that." He then switched to an open radio channel, "Quarter to all units, this ship will now engage in close-combat with the Vajra carrier. Focus all of your strength on defending the Nadesico. The biggest target will be ours to take. All hands, this ship will now initiate transformation!"

"This ship will now begin transformation. All crew, please prepare for the Phase Shift. Activating Fractal Module system." An automated announcement warned the crew.

"Main reactor output rising!" Ram informed Captain Wilder.

"Captain, I haven't agreed to this yet-" Catherine was interrupted by Wilder.

"Your feet!" A brace almost immediately rose up from behind Catherine and secured her in place, with similar devices securing the rest of the bridge crew.

"Be careful." Wilder said somewhat smugly, "Bobby! Teach them why this ship was classified as a Macross class even though it's only 400 meters-no. SHOW them why this ship is classified as a Macross-class!"

"Okay, boss." Bobby, the ship's helmsman, responded, adjusting his headband before grabbing the controls. "Let's go! Boooyah!" He yelled, accelerating the ship to maximum speed.

Meanwhile, inside the interior of the Vajra ship, Alto had managed to find Luca's RVF-25. However, he was immediately hit from behind by a Vajra, which he promptly destroyed. Another Vajra then blindsided Alto, forcing him to fire his VF-25's gunpod using only its left arm. An organic missile then decapitated his Valkyrie, forcing Alto to shift into gerwalk form to even see. The Vajra tried to crush the cockpit, and cracks were forming in the glass when Alto inexplicably heard singing.

BGM-Macross Frontier OST "Infinity"

With a battlecry, Alto fired what was left in his gunpod's magazine into the Vajra at point blank before grabbing the earring that he had received from Sheryl Nome and ejecting an instant before both the Vajra and his Valkyrie exploded. He flew over to Luca's RVF-25 and attempted to move it, since Luca had lost consciousness, but realized that the mass of cables that it was tangled in prevented it from moving. He fired the RVF-25's gunpod at the cables, but was only able to break a few before it was destroyed by a beam round from a magenta Variable fighter, which had chosen this moment to reveal itself. However, before either of them could act, the maw of the Vajra ship opened again.

Bobby swerved the Quarter behind an asteroid just as the Vajra ship fired, causing the beam to hit the asteroid instead of the Quarter. It burst out of the flames in a fully humanoid form, point defenses still firing full tilt, pinpoint barriers glowing from the heat. He then moved the Quarter to the Vajra ship, and pried its mouth open.

"Skull-3, Skull-4, respond!" Catherine called out over the radio.

"The Macross?" Alto said to himself. At that moment, the magenta Variable Fighter chose to make its escape, and Alto decided to get out himself, prying Luca's RVF-25 out of the remaining cables and flying back into open space.

"Skull-3, escape confirmed!" Catherine reported. The Quarter proceeded to holster its flight deck onto its back, and held its Macross Cannon with both hands.

"Macross Cannon charged!" Catherine reported.

"SHOOT THE BASTARD!" Wilder yelled.

"EAT THISSSS!" Bobby happily complied, firing the ship's heavy quantum refraction cannon at the Vajra ship. The ship began to bend and distort until it resembled a three-pronged version of a starfish and then exploded along with any Vajra that had been unfortunate enough to be caught in the blast of the Macross Cannon.

After the Nadesico was towed back to the Frontier Fleet by the Quarter, Yurika and Mr. Prospector explained their situation to the Frontier authorities. To their shock, they found out that 8 months had passed since they had gone through the Tulip, and that the situation in the Earth Sphere had quickly deteriorated shortly after they had arrived on Mars. The UEFA had launched an attack on the agricultural space colony of Junius 7 using nuclear missiles, destroying it. In response, ZAFT had deployed N-Jammers, devices designed to prevent nuclear fission, not only preventing more use of nuclear weapons but also causing an energy crisis in several regions of the Earth that were dependent on nuclear power. ZAFT also revealed a new military weapon, the mobile suit, that quickly proved to be far superior to the UEFA's Moebius and Delphinum armours. A mysterious object had also fallen from the Neo-Colonies shortly before the Gundam Fight started, though no one had been able to find it.

Mr. Prospector was able to negotiate to have a Fold Engine installed on the Nadesico in order to get back to Earth to warn the Federation about the threat of the Gradosians. In total, the repairs and installation of the Fold Engine would take around a week and a half, during which time the entire crew of the Nadesico was granted shore leave. They decided to explore the Frontier colonization fleet, Island 1 in particular.

Each colonization ship in the fleet was massive, housing an entire city inside. The glass ceilings had massive projectors designed to mimic a daytime or nighttime sky, with each ship housing different facilities. One was dominated by factories, another by a winter environment, yet another purposed for agriculture, and so on. Island 1 was designed as a 'normal' city, with aspects from all the other Islands incorporated into it except Island 8, the winter Island, for obvious reasons. It was large enough to require highways and accommodate skyscrapers. Had Hikari not seen it from the outside first, he would have believed that he was on a planet with a very nice climate.

Exi, Nikos, Reina, and Mina had decided to go shopping for new clothes, and Hikari, Mindy, Alto, and Bobby had decided to accompany them. Alto in particular wanted to introduce some friends of his to them at the mall. When they got there, 2 girls approached them. One had blue eyes and strawberry-blonde hair that was easily past shoulder-length. The other had red eyes and short green hair. Both of them were wearing school uniforms. Hikari shook his head upon seeing the two girls before recognizing them. Alto, seeing what was about to happen, immediately put his hand on Hikari's mouth and shook his head, jerking it in the direction of a clothing store. Upon entering the relative privacy of the store, Hikari decided to pop the question that had been in his head for the past minute or so.

"Okay, I have to know. You're Sheryl Nome and Ranka Lee, right?" He asked, pointing to each of them as he said their names.

"Oh dear, looks like the secret's out now." Sheryl chuckled.

"Sheryl Nome and Ranka Lee? Who are they?" Reina asked, a somewhat confused expression on her face.

"Only the most popular idol singers in the known galaxy!" Hikari responded, "I've bought every album they've released so far!"

"I'd heard that they were both good, but not that good." Mindy responded, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh, you'd better believe it!" Bobby said.

"I-It's an honor to meet you!" Mia stammered, bowing to them out of respect.

"No need for that, you'll make a scene." Ranka quickly hushed her.

"Besides, you're here for clothes, aren't you? Come on, we know the best places to look." Sheryl winked before beckoning everyone to follow her and Ranka. Hikari and Mindy both noticed that Alto had been oddly silent during the whole conversation, and stared at him questioningly. Alto merely shrugged.

After a day of trying on clothes, horrifically mismatched outfits, several purchases and returns, and a haircut for Nikos and Reina (courtesy of Bobby), the group settled down for dinner at Nyan Nyan, a chinese restaurant that Ranka worked part-time at. The chain had originally been started during the Zentraedi war by the uncle of wartime singer and idol Lynn Minmei on the original Macross. Hikari couldn't help but admire the girls in their new clothes as they took their seats. Nikos was wearing a red, shoulderless sweater with khaki cargo pants. Her hair remained mostly unchanged, with Bobby giving her a simple trim around the particularly messy parts. Reina was wearing a green blouse and jeans. Her braid, which used to be floor-length, was now merely waist-length. Mia was wearing a white t-shirt under a blue jean jacket, with matching shorts and white thigh-high stockings. Exi was wearing a pink t-shirt with a black, knee-length skirt.

During dinner, Hikari and Mindy noticed that Sheryl and Ranka seemed to be competing for Alto's attention, with Alto growing increasingly uncomfortable as the evening went on. They simultaneously realized Alto's romantic situation, and winced inwardly in sympathy.

"_Gekigan Flare! We did it Joe! Joe? What's wrong, Joe? Snap out of it!_"

"_Sorry, Ms. Sunako, it looks like I won't be able to take you to the beach like I promised after all…_"

"_Jooooooooooooe!_"

Akito had been watching the penultimate episode of Gekiganger 3 over and over since they had arrived on Island 1. In the episode, Joe, the friend and ally of the main character, sacrificed himself to ensure the victory of the protagonists. He had been trying to find some meaning in what had happened back on Mars by watching that episode.

After getting up on the second day, Akito was about to play that episode again when someone knocked on his door. He opened it to find Mindy, and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Sorry, I thought you were Yurika. She's been bothering me ever since we got here. Something about using a romantic atmosphere to cheer me up."

Mindy gave a dry laugh before handing Akito a ticket.

"What's this for?" He asked.

"A concert by Sheryl Nome and Ranka Lee." Mindy answered.

"Who are they?" Akito tilted his head in confusion, while Mindy feigned a look of offense.

"You really don't know? Ask Hikaru. She practically fangirled when she got her ticket. You don't have to come, but you look like you need it. The concert is in two days. Think about it." She patted him on the shoulder before leaving. Akito stared at the ticket, then back into his room at his Gekiganger dvds.

'_Damn it all..._' Akito thought to himself.

"Thank you for waiting, ladies and gentlemen! We now present to you a very special duet tonight, between the Galactic Fairy, Ms. Sheryl Nome, and the Superdimensional Cinderella, Ms. Ranka Lee!"

The audience went wild at the announcement as Sheryl and Ranka came on stage.

"Thank you for coming, everyone!" Ranka shouted out to the audience.

"Are you ready?" Sheryl hyped up the audience. "Then listen to our song!"

BGM-Macross Frontier OST "What bout my star" (Sheryl on stage)

Akito couldn't help but feel uplifted as Sheryl and Ranka sang together. He started bobbing his head to the music, and before long, he was singing along with the rest of the audience. The concert did much to lift his spirits, and he was cheered up enough to help out with cooking at Nyan Nyan that night.


	8. Intervention and Diversion

Pain. That was what Mia felt. She was strapped to a table, and with the exception of her waist, chest, and head, several dozen needles had been inserted into her body and removed. She was immediately soaked in alcohol, which further exacerbated her pain. She shrieked in agony, hoping to pass out from the pain, with no such luck. She was put back on the table, and a needle was prepared to be inserted into her eye. The needle drew closer whenever it was aligned with her pupil. Just as it was about to be inserted, she woke up. She laid still in her bed for a moment before bolting up, breathing heavily. She left her room, trying to take her mind off of the nightmare she had just had in any way possible.

Hikari had been walking up and down the stairs of the hotel in an effort to make himself tired. '_I should not have had that chocolate.._' he thought to himself. He had just gotten back to his floor when he thought he heard a sob. Going down one flight, he found Mia, curled into the fetal position, her face buried in her knees. She was shaking uncontrollably, and Hikari could hear her crying. He knelt down in front of her.

"Hey, you alright?" Hikari asked somewhat cautiously, trying not to set her off even further.

"Not really." Mia responded honestly in between sobs, " I just had a nightmare, and...it's hard to forget."

"That bad?" Hikari winced.

"You have no idea." Mia choked out. Her sobbing began to intensify, and Hikari put his hand on her shoulder in an attempt to comfort her.

"Hey, it's alright now. You're with us. Whatever was so scary in that dream can't hurt you." Hikari helped Mia to her feet and held her by the shoulder. "Do you want me to get you anything?"

"No thanks. Just take me back to my room." Mia had managed to calm down somewhat, and allowed Hikari to guide her back. When they got back to her room, they found Nikos waiting. She thanked Hikari for looking after Mia before taking her back inside. She sat Mia down by the bed they shared before wrapping a blanket around both of them.

"We all dream about that occasionally. There's nothing wrong with admitting that it scares you. Hell, I'm afraid to go to sleep on some nights myself." Nikos said.

"I know...it's just…" Mia stared down at the floor. Nikos sighed before embracing her.

"I know how you feel. Get some rest, okay?" Soon after, the both of them fell into a mercifully dreamless sleep.

…

Unfortunately for the crew of the Nadesico, the Frontier Fleet was scheduled to Fold to the Planet Gallia 4 before their repairs would be completed, which would take them farther from Earth. They had agreed to have Sheryl sing for a Zentraedi marine regiment that was stationed there. In the meantime, Yurika had agreed to put all of the pilots and machines of the Nadesico under the command of Captain Wilder until repairs were completed as partial compensation for the Fold engine.

When the Frontier Fleet arrived at Gallia 4, Alto and Hikari were sent as escorts to Sheryl down to the surface. Unfortunately, she got sick shortly after arriving on the surface, which caused some unrest among the Zentraedi. Alto was walking back from the bathroom when he was suddenly grabbed by two micronized Zentraedi and locked in a room. Listening at the door, he found out that the Zentraedi on the planet were divided into two groups: those who supported cooperation with the NUNS, and those who opposed it. Realizing that they were intending to use him as a hostage, Alto managed to escape by tying the sheets on his bed together and climbing down out of his room's window. Unfortunately, just as he had seated himself in his Valkyrie, the rebel Zentraedi commander held him at gunpoint. Normally, this wouldn't be an issue, but normal Zentraedi were around 50 feet tall, and this one was wielding a rifle to scale. Seeing the situation, the friendly Zentraedi immediately attacked, with Hikari supporting them. It soon became a stalemate, and the rebels were about to detonate several reaction warheads to even the odds when the sound of music could be heard.

BGM- Macross Frontier OST "Seikan Hikou"

Both sides looked up to see a blue VF-25 in gerwalk form descending, with several loudspeakers attached to its wings. The cockpit opened to reveal Michel, with Ranka in the backseat. She stood up, and shouted into her microphone.

"Everyone, hold! Until…the edge of the galaxy!"

As Ranka sang, the Zentraedi ceased fighting, and some started to pass out from nosebleeds about halfway through the song. The only one who was not affected was the rebel commander, who appropriated a Queadlunn Rea and attempted to kill Ranka with it. Just as he had lined up the shot, Alto's Valkyrie tackled him.

"Give up! You've already lost!" Alto said.

"Shut up! Don't give me orders!" The rebel leader retorted, firing a salvo of missiles. Alto was easily able to dodge and shoot them down using his Valkyrie's head lasers.

'Songs? Culture? Don't make me laugh! Fighting is life for us Zentraedi! It's in our blood!" The rebel leader argued. Alto ignored him, eventually managing to knife the rebel leader in the chest. The Queadlunn Rea fell to the ground unceremoniously, kicking up a large amount of dust.

Though the incident had been resolved, the Quarter was sent down as a precaution. As the Quarter began to enter the planet's atmosphere, Mindy noticed that Reina, Exi, Nikos and Mia were staring out the window, a look of fear on their faces.

"Is something wrong? You're all white as a sheet." Mindy said with some concern.

"It's just that we can't shake this feeling…" Reina said uneasily.

"That something bad is about to happen." Exi finished for her.

Mindy sighed before embracing all four of them in a group hug.

"It's probably stress. Why don't we go work on the Titania? That should take your minds off of things." They all nodded hesitantly to each other before heading down to the hangar in silence.

…

Alto had decided to take Ranka for a joyride in his Valkyrie, having decided that she earned it after pacifying two warring factions of Zentraedi. Hikari had decided to go with them, since much of the planet's surface was unexplored, so there was no telling what they might accidentally encounter. Suddenly, a massive, humanoid shape came into view. It had massive mechanical arms, and what looked like two skyscrapers on its shoulders. Both Alto and Hikari recognized it as a first-generation Macross-class ship.

"What the-I thought this planet was uncolonized." Hikari pondered out loud.

"It is. At least, that's what we were told." Alto responded. Before they could discuss the matter any further, both of their radars started going crazy. Multiple humanoid robots each 52 feet tall fell from the sky, and immediately started attacking the two of them. There appeared to be two types: one had brown, blocky, rough plating similar to a lizard's scales, with a round head and white slits for eyes. The other was peach colored, and had smooth plating that resembled a snake's skin, with a grille on its rectangular, angled head that seemed to take the place of a visor. The brown units had a white crystal dagger mounted on their left wrist, a one-handed beam rifle in the other. The peach-colored units were armed with crystal halberds, not having any kind of ranged weapon. Ranka yelped in fright as one of the peach colored units took a swing at Alto's Valkyrie. Hikari tackled it with the Fortune and sprayed it with his assault rifle.

"Get back to the Quarter! I'll cover you!" Hikari yelled over the radio. Alto was more than happy to oblige, seeing as he did not have an armor pack on his Valkyrie. As Alto retreated back to the Quarter, Hikari realized with dismay that his attack had only dealt cosmetic damage to the halberd-wielding mech. He dodged a lunge from the same unit and dove to evade a beam round from one of the brown units. He fired a burst at the unit that had fired at him, only to find that it was even more durable than its melee counterpart, with the bullets simply shattering on impact. Another halberd unit tried to rush him, and Hikari fired the Fortune's railgun at it, blowing a small chunk out of its torso and causing it to fall out of the sky. Realizing that he wouldn't be able to do much damage in his current state, he also decided to retreat back to the Quarter.

The rest of Skull Squadron, Pixie Squad, Mazinger Z, Aphrodite A, the SPTs, Blue Earth, all of the Aestivalis, and the Titania were launched in short order. Akito had opted for an artillery frame, while Ryoko, Hikaru, and Izumi had chosen land frames to conserve power. Nikos and Mia were accompanying Mindy in the Titania. Hikari relaunched soon after, this time with a grenade launcher. He fired at one of the halberd-wielding units, but it dodged with a speed that belied its size, and started dashing back and forth erratically. Hikari tracked it for a moment before firing the Fortune's railgun, hitting it in the shoulder and blowing off its right arm as a result. He fired another grenade at it, this time hitting it dead on and destroying it. Meanwhile, Alto, whose Valkyrie now had an armor pack, leaped onto one of the brown units, dodging it as it swung its dagger at him. He landed on its back, and unloaded most of his gunpod's magazine into its head before being forced off. Despite this, the head unit had suffered only minor damage. Akito decided to capitalize on its new vulnerability, firing three rounds from his Artillery Frame's cannon and a salvo of missiles from its shoulders, with Luca following up with a burst from his gunpod. Though the alien unit was forced out of the air, it was evident that the amount of damage done was barely enough, the only visible sign of the punishment that it had endured being a large crack running down its torso in addition to the still damaged head..

Eiji, David, and Roanne, meanwhile, were chasing a melee unit. David fired his lasered rifle at the alien unit's leg, hitting it in the knee. Roanne followed up with Buldy's shoulder cannon, hitting it squarely in the chest, with Eiji launching a calf-missile at the same area. It responded by swinging at David, almost cutting Baybull in half. Eiji immediately closed in using Layzner's knuckles, punching the damaged area on its chest until it started to give. The alien machine grabbed Layzner and tossed it aside almost effortlessly. It was about to skewer Layzner when David punched it in the elbow, which gave Eiji an opening to shoot the damaged area on its chest. The resulting explosion presumably destroyed the cockpit, since the machine immediately became lifeless, falling down to the ground unceremoniously.

Mindy dodged one of the halberd-wielding units before destroying it with an anti-armor round. She dove to avoid a beam round from one of the brown units, switched the RS rifle to pistol mode before shooting it in the head. Its head unit was surprisingly durable, and it immediately responded by closing in to try and skewer the Titania with its crystal dagger. Mindy had to fire until her pistol overheated in order to destroy the charging unit. At the same time, Ozma fired 50 missiles from his Valkyrie at a group of enemies of both types. When the smoke cleared, he realized that he had not destroyed a single one of them, though several showed signs of severe damage. A melee unit attempted to charge him, but Ozma was easily able to dodge and stab it in the neck with his Valkyrie's knife. Klan charged in, firing her shoulder cannon at the crippled enemies, dispatching most of them with one shot. She then fired a salvo of missiles from her shoulder launchers, destroying the stragglers.

Ryoko, Hikaru, Izumi, Kouji, and Sayaka had been dealing with with any units that decided to land. The Aestivalis trio quickly found out that trying to engage the enemy in melee combat their units was suicide due to the size difference, as Ryoko had lost her Aestivalis' left arm when attempting to punch a brown unit with a wired fist. Thus far, they had let Kouji and Sayaka deal with a majority of the enemies, only taking them head on when one or two got separated from the rest. Kouji used Breast Fire on a melee unit, causing it to explode from the heat. He batted aside another melee unit, allowing Sayaka to dispatch it with a pair of chest missiles. She threw a boulder at one of the brown units. It shot the boulder to pieces with its rifle, but this distracted it long enough for Kouji to hit it with a rocket punch, caving in its chest area and presumably killing the pilot.

Things soon devolved into a battle of attrition, and after two hours, the alien machines seemingly decided to retreat, fleeing back into the upper atmosphere before disappearing in a multicolored flash of light.

"Who the hell were they?" Hikari wondered out loud. Meanwhile, Nikos and Mia had become oddly silent, as if in contemplation.

"What is it?" Mindy asked, "Do you recognize them?"

"Not really," Mia responded, "It's just that they seemed familiar."

'_This is probably that 'bad thing' that they were talking about.'_ Mindy thought to herself. The rest of the day was spent gathering the remains of the alien units.

…

The remainder of the shore leave passed by without incident. In the meantime, Mr. Prospector hired the SMS to escort the Nadesico back to Earth, and arranged for the Quarter to accompany them. The night before they were due to leave, Alto revealed that Sheryl and Ranka would also be coming with them. Alto explained that the both of them had wanted to take a break, but wouldn't be able to go anywhere on the Frontier without being recognized. After one last dinner at Nyan Nyan, Alto, Sheryl, Ranka, Hikari, Mindy, Nikos, Mia, Exi, Reina, Akito, Yurika, Kouji, and Sayaka were walking back to the dock where the Nadesico was. Yurika was attempting to cling to Akito's arm, while Akito was struggling to break free. The stalemate amused the rest of the group to no end.

"Hard to believe that she's the captain of the Nadesico." Alto mused.

"Only in Nergal." Hikari quipped. The rest of the group chuckled.

"It's true though. If this was the military, she probably wouldn't even have made it to ensign." Mindy said.

"But, you know, it's hard to imagine Yurika as anything but the captain of the Nadesico." Kouji said.

"You're right!" Mia agreed after a few seconds of deep thought.

"For once, I actually agree with you on this." Sayaka nodded.

"Couldn't she be a...wait, no, she'd probably get fired on day one." Nikos said.

"Well, that's our captain!" Exi summed up everyone's thoughts.

"Agreed." Reina nodded.


	9. False Peace: Its name is Gundam

A/N: _Sorry that this took so long! I just moved into my college dorm, and orientation has been really hectic. Classes start tomorrow, so expect updates to become more spaced out until winter. I will work on this story as much as I can in my spare time though, so don't worry! Also, this chapter is extra long to compensate for the long update, so enjoy!_

Without further ado, the Nadesico and Quarter set off toward Earth, their Fold Engines enabling them to arrive in a little over a day and a half. They arrived several miles out beyond the orbit of the moon. As they approached, the Cosmic Culture Club felt their spirits rise.

"Finally! We're back!" Arthur enthused. Anna grabbed Eiji's arm and looked out the window with him.

"Look, Eiji. It's the Earth! The Earth you've been fighting to protect." She said.

"It's every bit as beautiful as I imagined." Eiji responded. Unfortunately, the moment was immediately lost when the alarms started to blare. On the bridge, Yurika was trying to get an understanding of the situation.

"Are we under attack? Where's the enemy?" She asked.

"A moment captain. We have just detected a radar anomaly and are attempting to identify it." Ruri responded. After a few seconds, she gave an update, "We have visual. Putting it on screen." A group of insectoid aliens with greenish-brown carapaces and pink flesh appeared on the main viewer.

"Nadesico to Quarter, are you seeing this?" Yurika asked over the radio.

"Affirmative, Captain Misumaru." Captain Wilder responded.

"Are we dealing with Vajra again?" Yurika decided to hazard a guess.

"Negative. These aliens are too small to be Vajra, and they look nothing alike. It appears that we have a new enemy to deal with." Wilder sighed.

"Regardless, all units, scramble!" Yurika ordered. And so Skull Squad, Pixie Squad, Mazinger Z, Aphrodite A, Blue Earth, the SPTs, the Titania, the Fortune, and all of the Aestivalis 0G frames were launched, with Reina and Mia accompanying Mindy. The group quickly found out that beam weapons were extremely effective against these new enemies, with the SPTs' lasered rifles and Blue Earth's laser cannons easily dispatching them with one hit each.

Mindy shot one of the aliens with the RS rifle's beam mode, causing it to pop like a balloon. She proceeded to dispatch another three in quick succession, though this caused the rifle to overheat. As Reina focused on cooling it, Mia fired the Titania's missile launchers at one of the aliens that had come too close. Unfortunately, the missiles weren't enough to kill it, as it emerged out of the flames and promptly attempted to bite off the Titania's head. Michel, seeing the problem, shot the alien in the back. The resulting implosion disoriented the three of them, but Mia was able to retain enough control to take them over to Aphrodite A for repairs. Meanwhile, Hikari had emptied his assault rifle into one of the aliens while simultaneously firing his railgun at another that was behind it, dispatching them both. A distressed scream could be heard over the radio, and he turned to see that Akito was being mobbed by the unknown adversaries. They clawed and bit at his Aestivalis, and were straining Akito's Distortion Field to its limit. Ryoko immediately attempted to come to his aid.

"Hang on Tenkawa!" She yelled, readying her Aestivalis for a Distortion Punch. However, Hikari realized that she wouldn't make it in time, and neither would he. However, just when it seemed that Akito's Distortion Field was about to fail, another Aestivalis, this one blue, rushed in, grabbing Akito's machine and taking him to relative safety, leaving the aliens that had been attacking him to be destroyed by a missile barrage from Klan, who had also been moving in to assist. The blue Aestivalis proceeded to contact everyone else over the radio.

"Normally, I'd say you should state your own name before asking for someone else's, but we don't have time for that. I'm Akatsuki Nagare."

"Mr. Akatsuki, do you know what these aliens are?" Yurika asked. The blue Aestivalis shrugged.

"No idea. Your guess is as good as mine, but they're definitely not Vajra." Akatsuki responded, "They started appearing about two days ago."

Yurika was about to ask Akatsuki another question when Ruri interrupted.

"Captain, we have a new contact. It appears to be fighting the aliens."

BGM-Tekkaman Blade OST "Reason"

She magnified the image to reveal a human-sized figure clad in silver and red armor with a green visor. It was brandishing some kind of double-blade, which it promptly split in two, throwing both blades at one of the aliens, causing it to burst. The figure retrieved its blades by throwing out some kind of green goo, which it extended into two long strings. Putting its double blade back together, the figure proceeded to hack another of the aliens in half, followed in quick succession by several others. The group was speechless for a moment before Alto broke the silence.

"He's tearing them apart!"

"He's tiny!" Kouji simply stated.

"Should we help him?" Reina wondered out loud.

"All units, assist the unknown!" Captain Wilder ordered.

The group resumed the fight once more, with everyone attempting to carve a path to the mysterious human-sized unknown that was defeating the aliens so easily. However, before they could get to it, the unknown was tackled by one of the aliens from behind. Another proceeded to latch on from the left side, grabbing the unknown's arm. A third grabbed it in the front, and the unknown was rendered helpless as a result. After they were done biting and clawing it, the unknown started drifting in space, apparently unconscious. Thankfully, most of the aliens in the immediate vicinity had been eliminated, and driving the remainder off was a simple task. Mindy delicately took the unknown back to the Nadesico, placing its body on the hangar floor. As they were getting out of the Titania, there was suddenly a flash of light, and in the place of the unknown they had seen earlier was a human male, bruised and bloody. He looked to be no more than 20 or 21. Upon realizing that he was also naked, Mindy immediately covered Reina and Mia's eyes.

"We need a medical team down in the hangar!" Uribitake yelled into a phone on the wall. Shortly after, a team of paramedics put the young man on a stretcher and rushed him down to the infirmary. Eiji decided to take the opportunity to visit Gale, who was still comatose in the infirmary. In the meantime, Dr. Fresange had taken a blood sample from the mysterious young man, and was in the process of analyzing it.

On the bridge, Yurika was currently discussing their next destination with Captain Wilder. Unfortunately, they had inadvertently entered the Earth Sphere from a relatively unoccupied portion of space, which meant that the aliens that they had encountered had almost free reign, with the exception of a potential clash with the Jovian Lizards. The place within the region that was relatively safe was the space colony of Heliopolis, which was an extension of the nation Orb. Both captains agreed that getting to Heliopolis as soon as possible was the best course of action.

Miraculously, they did not encounter any of the mysterious aliens on their way to Heliopolis, with Akatsuki positing the theory that they were more focused on entering Earth's atmosphere. Upon arriving in port, the group immediately split up. Noal and Aki departed to the ODSG branch on Heliopolis with Eiji in tow; both to inform the Federation about the Gradosian threat and to report about the mysterious unknown that had assisted them in fighting the new alien threat. Skull Squad was moved onto the Nadesico, as Mr. Prospector had arranged for them to be transferred on while the Quarter would return to the Frontier Fleet. When they got back to Earth itself, they would go back on a ship equipped with a Fold Engine. Hikari would be parting ways with the Nadesico at this point, since he had received an order from Morgenroete to take the Fortune to the main factory shortly after arriving.

Hikari looked out at the Nadesico with a hint of sadness. He had made many good friends and memories on that ship, and he didn't really want to go. As if the universe had sensed his sadness, he was approached by Mindy, Mia, Alto, Kouji, and Mr. Prospector.

"Sad to leave?" Mindy asked. Hikari nodded.

"You're not the only one." Kouji said, "This ship's gonna be a lot crazier with you gone."

"What, we're not sane enough for you?" Alto jabbed.

"I'm not talking about you, I'm talking about the captain." Kouji replied. Alto winced in sympathy while Mindy chuckled. Mia gave Hikari a small package. He opened it to find a watch.

"I'll miss you…" Mia said tearfully before hugging him. Hikari returned the gesture.

"If you want you want to come back to the Nadesico, all you have to do is ask." Mr. Prospector said. He handed Hikari a business card. Hikari took the card and, after a small amount of banter with everyone else, got into the car that would take him to Morgenroete. He spent the next few hours analyzing the combat data that the Fortune had accumulated, as well as helping to work on improvements to its software before going to sleep.

Unbeknownst to anyone on Heliopolis, several ZAFT ships were hiding just outside of detection range of the space colony. Onboard one of the Nazca-class vessels, two ZAFT officers were discussing a plan of action. One of them was wearing a typical ZAFT officer's uniform, and was the captain of the ship. The other had long blonde hair, with a silver mask covering his eyes, forehead, and cheeks.

"If we attack now, the council's not going to be happy. This colony is considered neutral territory." The captain argued.

"If the intelligence is right, we can't afford to not attack at this point." The man in the mask countered, tossing a photo at the captain, which floated lazily toward him in the low gravity. The photo was of a brightly colored mobile suit. The captain sighed.

"What do you we suggest we do then, Creuset?" He relented. Creuset smiled

"Well, it would be suicide to attack while that Macross class vessel is in port…" He began.

Hikari walked through the halls of the factory of Morgenroete Inc with several sheets of code and a hard drive that had been given to him by the head scientists. They had found several flaws in the operating system of the Fortune, and had given the hard drive to him so that he could patch it. The paper code was of several key modifications that he was to double check after the patch. As he was studying the sheets, he accidentally bumped into a young man with spiky brown hair and purple eyes. He was accompanied by a young woman with short, chestnut hair and blue eyes, and another young man with dark brown hair and green eyes.

"Oh, sorry. I wasn't looking where I was going." Hikari hastily apologized.

"It's fine." The one he had bumped into responded. He then put his arm forward for a handshake.

"Kira Yamato." He introduced himself.

"Hikari Daishi." Hikari returned the gesture, "I need to go work on something, so.."

"Right. We'll see you later then." Kira waved as Hikari rushed down the hall.

About half an hour after the Quarter left, an explosion shook the entire colony, and several ZAFT mobile suits-GINNs-were seen flying about the colony immediately after that. Unbeknownst to the general populace, their target was the Morgenroete factory, or more specifically, an armed convoy that was currently departing from the factory in response to the explosion. The GINNs strafed the convoy, destroying most of the troop transport trucks on the first run before landing. A pair of mobile missile launchers attempted to destroy several of the GINNs, but they were too agile, and destroyed the missile launchers with impunity. A large group of soldiers clad in either red or green came out of the woods after that, gunning down the security troops.

"Destroy any parts that we can't take with us, and get into those mobile suits!" One of the soldiers clad in red ordered, "There're only three here, where's the other half?"

"They're probably still in the factory. Rusty and I will take the two on this side. We'll send Matthew and George to take the last one." Another of the red clad soldiers responded. He and Rusty set off for the factory with several other soldiers while two of the five GINNs that had entered the colony took off and flew toward the other side of the factory.

Kira and his friends had been attempting to flee the factory when he saw a girl running in the opposite direction. After telling his friends to go on, he ran after the girl. He quickly caught up with her and grabbed her by the arm.

"What are you doing? The shelter's that way!" Kira said, pointing in the direction he had just come from.

"Let me go!" The girl yelled at him, breaking free and charging through the door in front of them. Kira went through the doorway after her and found himself on the upper walkway of a factory floor. The girl appeared to be in a state of shock.

"Mobile suits for the Earth Alliance? Father, you traitor!" She yelled. Another explosion rocked the factory, which prompted Kira to grab the girl by the arm again and take her to an emergency elevator to one of the shelters. He pressed the intercom.

"Is someone still out there?" A voice answered.

"A friend and I need to get in!" Kira responded.

"We're full." The voice said, "There are 37 shelters in the left block. Can't you go there?"

"At least take my friend, please! She's a girl!" Kira deplored.

"Alright. Sorry." With that, the elevator opened up, and Kira shoved her in.

"Wait! What are you-"

"I'll find another way out, don't worry." Kira reassured her. The doors closed, silencing whatever the girl had to say in protest. He ran back to the edge of the catwalk and spotted a green clad soldier behind a woman in an orange coverall.

"Behind you!" Kira yelled. She promptly turned around and shot the soldier with her rifle, while another plainclothes soldier gunned down a red clad soldier on the other side of the floor. Seeing no other way out, Kira jumped down onto the mobile suit that the woman was taking cover behind just as another red clad soldier shot her in the right arm. The soldier, realizing that he was out of ammo, charged forward with a knife, but Kira got in between them. For an instant, there was a moment of recognition between the two.

'_Athrun?'_ Kira thought.

'_Kira?_' Athrun thought.

The moment was interrupted by the woman drawing her pistol, forcing Athrun to leap backwards off the mobile suit. The woman proceeded to shove Kira into the cockpit of the mobile suit that they were on before entering herself in order to avoid an incoming shock wave, with Athrun hijacking the other to do the same. Athrun quickly realized that the movement OS in his mobile suit-the Aegis-was complete garbage, and so he rewrote it on the spot before departing at the behest of Miguel, the leader of the GINN pilots in their group. After Athrun departed, Miguel turned his attention toward the last mobile suit, the Strike Gundam. It was struggling on its feet, and Miguel was about to slice off its left arm with his GINN's sword when its armor suddenly changed color from a dull grey to white with blue and red accents. His sword bounced off of the Strike uselessly, causing Miguel's GINN to stagger backward.

"Superior armor won't save you!" He yelled at the Strike, drawing his rifle and firing at it, "You don't have anywhere near enough mobility!"

Hikari had just finished patching and checking the Fortune's OS when the doors to the factory were blown open by a pair of GINNs. He immediately closed the cockpit rolled to the weapons rack. He grabbed an assault rifle and emptied the magazine into one GINN and fired his railgun at the other, destroying them both. After grabbing as much ammunition as the Fortune could carry, he set out to try and find out what was going on. Engaging the Fortune's flight mode, he was momentarily disoriented when he looked up, as there was no true 'sky' within Heliopolis. He spotted a trio of GINNs fighting another mobile suit on the other side of the factory, and so he spurred the Fortune cautiously toward them. Two of the GINNs immediately broke off and fired at him, forcing Hikari to dive and take cover behind a building. The GINNs attempted to take him in a pincer attack, approaching from opposite ends of the street. Hikari responded by jumping onto the roof of the building and firing at the GINN on his right, clipping it in the wing and grounding it. The GINN that could still fly circled around in an attempt to flank him, but Hikari was easily able to destroy it using the Fortune's railgun, allowing him to dispatch the grounded GINN with his knife at his own leisure. He saw that the last GINN and the friendly mobile suit were still fighting, and moved in to assist. However, Miguel saw his approach, and emptied the remainder of his clip at the Fortune, forcing Hikari to shield the head and cockpit with its left arm, disabling it in the process and forcing him to take cover.

With the Fortune out of the way for now, Miguel turned his attention back to the Strike. he reloaded and fired at it, causing it to collide with the side of a building as it dodged. Kira saw with horror that his friends were still outside as the dust settled. Miguel rushed forward with his GINN's sword drawn, ready to stab the Strike. Realizing that his friends would be crushed if the Strike was knocked backwards, he pulled down on the controls, causing the Strike to duck. He yanked another control, which caused the Strike to tackle the GINN, forcing it backward and knocking it down. He breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing that his friends were still okay. On impulse, he checked the movement OS of the Strike.

"This is nuts! How did you expect to move such complicated machinery using an OS like this?" Kira wondered out loud.

"We can't help it! It's still incomplete!" Murrue said.

"Please move!" Kira said. Murrue obliged, wincing in pain due to the wound on her arm. Kira took down a keyboard that had been hanging on the side of the cockpit, and began typing so fast that his hands were almost a blur, muttering technical necessities to himself as he worked. Murrue was amazed at the speed with which he was working, even as Miguel charged at them in his GINN again. Kira fired the Strike's head-mounted Igelstellung cannons at the GINN, momentarily forcing it to stop in its tracks, giving Kira just enough time to finish the Strike's movement OS. He leapt into the air, drawing to Armor Schneiders-oversized combat knives-from the Strike's thighs, and stabbed Miguel's GINN in both shoulders. Miguel, seeing that he was beaten, activated the self-destruct system on his GINN and then fled. Miguel's GINN exploded, causing the Strike to stumble backwards. Murrue slumped forward in the cockpit, having passed out due to her wound.

Hikari emerged from where he had been unsuccessfully attempting to jury-rig the Fortune's arm, rifle drawn. He was about to contact the pilot of the mobile suit when the cockpit opened, and to his surprise, he saw Kira come out with an injured woman, though he stopped upon seeing the Fortune.

"Relax, Kira, it's me, Hikari." Hikari said over the Fortune's external speakers.

"Hikari? Oh thank god. Can you watch out for us while we tend to her wounds?" Kira asked.

"No problem. Why were you piloting that thing?" Hikari asked.

"Long story."

"I'll bet."


End file.
